IN SHORT

Two priests and a layman have illuminated the life path of Joaquín Villar García, a sociologist and financier who, after more than four years in the seminary, realised that God did not want him to be a priest but a teacher, a public servant and a father. His first salary as a labourer was $10 a week. He believes that education is the best way forward for Panama – and has lived up to this conviction by founding Columbus University in 1992.