Former Panamanian President Hospitalized, Undergoes Dialysis

[RightSide]

Former Panamanian President Hospitalized, Undergoes Dialysis

PANAMA CITY – Former President Guillermo Endara was hospitalized in Panama City, underwent hemodialysis and is now in stable condition, relatives told the press on Sunday.

The daily La Prensa in its online edition reported that the 61-year-old former president was admitted Saturday night to the San Fernando Clinic.

The newspaper reported that the former president on Sunday was subjected to a session of hemodialysis due to a kidney complication resulting from the diabetes from which he has suffered for several years, and his state (of health) is stable and he is conscious.

Endara’s wife, Ana Mae Diaz, on Sunday asked the public to pray for the health of her husband.

In November 2004, Endara, who served as Panama’s president from 1989 to 1994, underwent a heart operation to correct a coronary obstruction.

Endara was a presidential candidate in the May 3 elections for the Moral Vanguard of the Fatherland Party, and he finished in third place.

In that election, businessman Ricardo Martinelli won the presidency at the head of the Alliance for Change, a coalition opposed to the governing Democratic Revolutionary party, which fielded former Housing Minister Balbina Herrera, who came in second.

Endara, who has suffered for some years from diabetes, had competed as a presidential candidate and came in second in the 2004 election, which was won by the country’s current leader, Martin Torrijos.

He was Panama’s first president after the restoration of democracy after the U.S. invasion on Dec. 20, 1989, that toppled the dictatorial regime of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega.