[[:Template:Moscoso was early explorerof Mexico. He took the position of comander of an expidition after Hernando De Soto died and turned back with 600 men.Unreferenced]]
Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez de Arias (born July 1, 1946) was the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004, representing the Arnulfista Party. She was Panama's first female president.
Moscoco has an interior design diploma from Miami-Dade Community College in the United States, and she is the widow of former President Arnulfo Arias.

Presidency
She oversaw the U.S. handover of the Panama Canal in January 2000. Having fired every major officeholder in the Panama Canal Authority appointed by the previous administration, she is credited with keeping the Authority autonomous and running the canal in an efficient manner.

Panama Canal
Throughout her five-year government, numerous corruption scandals were aired on the media. None of her close allies, allegedly involved, were investigated.

Corruption scandals
Moscoso raised eyebrows soon after her election in 1999, when she gave all 72 members of the Legislative Assembly expensive Cartier watches and earrings worth an estimated $146,000 just before the vote on the government-proposed budget package. She claimed they were Christmas gifts and that she paid for them from her own money, not from public funds. No investigation was made.

Durodollar
Her popularity at the end of her government was the lowest for a Panamanian President. At the end of her term in office she held inauguration ceremonies for several unfinished public works. The most famous example is the new Centennial Bridge over the Panama Canal, inaugurated with big parties on August 15, 2004 (15 days before ending her term) by the government despite the fact that it would take until September 2, 2005 (a year later) to open the bridge for traffic, since only then the new highways leading to the bridge were finished.
Days before Moscoso ended her term and left Panama to retire in Florida, she pardoned four Cuban exiles -- including the infamous terrorist Luis Posada Carriles -- who had been convicted of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro, causing Cuba to break off diplomatic relations with Panama. The relations were reestablished under her successor, President Martín Torrijos.

Successor
With the new government, numerous mechanisms to investigate corruption cases were instituted. It is alleged that Taiwan's donations to the Panamanian government were put under private foundations that were controlled by Moscoso's Cabinet and close friends.
Moscoso is now facing numerous corruption investigations in Panama. She blames Fidel Castro for initiating the corruption allegations, however Moscoso's close aides point to Panamanian political rivals as the source. [1](link broken)