Ruben Blades is a Panamanian musician. He wrote El Cantante for Héctor Lavoe and collaborated with Willie Colón on the best-selling salsa album of all time, Siembra. Blades released Fotografías. He also released the albums Buscando América, Salsa Big Band, and Cantares del Subdesarrollo. Outside of music, Blades ran for the presidency of Panama in 1994 and later accepted an appointment as Minister of Tourism in Panama in 2004. He has also appeared in the films Predator 2 and The Devil’s Own, and the television series Fear the Walking Dead.