Mitchell Doens

Mitchell Constantino Doens Ambrosio (26 September 1946 – 24 August 2026) was a Panamanian politician, economist and writer. He served as the country's Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in the 1990s, and the secretary general of the National Executive Council of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) from 2009 to 2012. A member of the PRD since 1979, he worked as an economist for the government during the military dictatorship and later participated in the party's restructuring after the 1989 United States invasion of Panama and overthrow of dictator Manuel Noriega.

Doens also worked as a columnist, writing about Panamanian politics and international relationships.

Early life and education Mitchell Constantino Doens Ambrosio was born on 26 September 1946 in Colón, Colón Province, Doens became interested in politics as a teenager after the 1964 Flag Incident, where the United States Canal Zone Police killed Panamanian student protestors.

When Ernesto Pérez Balladares was elected to the presidency in 1994, Doens, who had campaigned for Pérez Balladares, was appointed the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. Doens left his cabinet position in 1998.

In addition to his political career, Doens also worked as a laywer and a columnist who wrote on Panamanian politics and international relationships. He died on 24 August 2026, at the age of 79, after experiencing a cardiac arrest at Hospital Santo Tomás, where he had been hospitalised for pneumonia.