States agreed to extend to Panamanian employees the health and life insurance benefits available to United States citizens
in the zone.
Several other controversial matters, however, remained unresolved. The United States agreed to increase the wages of
Panamanian employees in the zone, but not as much as the Panamanian government requested. No agreement was
reached in response to Panamanian requests for jurisdiction over a corridor through the zone linking the two halves of
the country.
Meanwhile, the United States had initiated a new aid program for all of Latin America–the Alliance for Progress. Under
this approach to hemisphere relations, President Kennedy envisioned a long-range program to raise living standards and
advance social and economic development. No regular United States government development loans or grants had been
available to Panama through the late 1950s. The Alliance for Progress, therefore, was the first major effort of the United
States to improve basic living conditions. Panama was to share in the initial, large-scale loans to support self-help
housing. Nevertheless, pressure for major revisions of the treaties and resentment of United States recalcitrance
continued to move.
Data as of December 1987
Panama
The Oligarchy under Fire
In the mid-1960s, the oligarchy was still tenuously in charge of Panama’s political system. Members of the middle class,
consisting largely of teachers and government workers, occasionally gained political prominence. Aspiring to upper-class
stations, they failed to unite with the lower classes to displace the oligarchy. Students were the most vocal element of the
middle class and the group most disposed to speak for the inarticulate poor; as graduates, however, they were generally
coopted by the system.
A great chasm separated the rural section from the urban population of the two major cities. Only the rural wageworkers,
concentrated in the provinces of Bocas del Toro and Chiriqu , appeared to follow events in the capital and to express
themselves on issues of national policy. Among the urban lower classes, antagonism between the Spanish speakers and the
English- and French-speaking blacks inhibited organization in pursuit of common interests.
Literacy was high–about 77 percent–despite the scarcity of secondary schools in the rural areas. Voter turnout also tended
to be high, despite the unreliability of vote counts. (A popular saying is “He who counts the votes elects.”) Concentration
on the sins of the United States had served as a safety valve, diverting attention from the injustices of the domestic system.
The multi-party system that existed until the coup d’ tat of 1968 served to regulate competition for political power among
the leading families. Individual parties characteristically served as the personal machines of leaders, whose clients
(supporters or dependents) anticipated jobs or other advantages if their candidate were successful. Of the major parties
competing in the 1960s, only the highly factionalized PLN had a history of more than two decades. The only parties that
had developed clearly identifiable programs were the small Socialist Party and the Christian Democratic Party (Partido
Dem crato Cristiano—PDC). The only party with a mass base was the Paname ista Party (Partido Paname ista—PP), the
electoral vehicle of the erratic former president, Arnulfo Arias. The Paname ista Party appealed to the frustrated, but lacked
a clearly recognizable ideology or program.
Seven candidates competed in the 1964 presidential elections, although only three were serious contenders. Robles, who
had served as minister of the presidency in Chiari’s cabinet, was the candidate of the National Opposition Union,
comprising the PLN and seven smaller parties. After lengthy backstage maneuvers, Robles was endorsed by the outgoing
president. Juan de Arco Galindo, a former member of the National Assembly and public works minister and brother-in-law
of former President de la Guardia, was the candidate of the National Opposition Alliance (Alianza Nacional de Oposici n)
coalition, comprising seven parties headed by the CPN. Arnulfo Arias was supported by the PP, already the largest single
party in the country.
As usual, the status of the canal was a principal issue in the campaign. Both the liberal and the CPN coalitions cultivated
nationalist sentiment by denouncing the United States. Arias, abandoning his earlier nationalistic theme, assumed a
cooperative and conciliatory stance toward the United States. Arias attracted lower-class support by denouncing the
oligarchy. The Electoral Tribunal announced that Robles had defeated Arias by a margin of more than 10,000 votes of the
317,312 votes cast. The CPN coalition trailed far behind the top two contenders. Arias supporters, who had won a majority
of the National Assembly seats, attributed Robles’s victory to the “miracle of Los Santos”; they claimed that enough
corpses voted for Robles in that province to enable him to carry the election.
The problems confronting Robles were not unlike those of his predecessors but were aggravated by the consequences of
the 1964 riots. In addition to the hardships and resentments resulting from the losses of life and property, the riots had the
effect of dramatically increasing the already serious unemployment in the metropolitan areas. Despite his nationalistic
rhetoric during the campaign, the new president was dependent on United States economic and technical assistance to
develop projects that Chiari’s government, also with United States assistance, had initiated. Chiari emphasized building
schools and low-cost housing. He endorsed a limited agrarian-reform program. Like his predecessor, Robles sought to
increase the efficiency of tax collection rather than raise taxes.
By 1967 the coalitions were being reshuffled in preparation for the 1968 elections. By the time Arias announced his
candidacy, he had split both the coalitions that had participated in the 1964 elections and had secured the support of several
factions in a coalition headed by the Paname ista Party. Robles’s endorsement went to David Samudio of the PLN. A civil
engineer and architect of middle-class background, Samudio had served as an assemblyman and had held several cabinet
posts, including that of finance minister under Robles. In addition to the PLN, he was supported by the Labor and Agrarian
Party (Partido Laborista Agrario–PALA) and other splinter groups. (Party labels are deceptive; the PALA, for example,
had neither an agrarian base nor organized labor support.) A PDC candidate, Antonio Gonz lez Revilla, also entered the
race.
Because many of Arias’s supporters believed that the 1964 election had been rigged, the principal issue in the 1968
campaign became the prospective validity of the election itself. The credibility crisis became acute in February 1968 when
the president of the Electoral Tribunal, a Samudio supporter, closed the central registration office in a dispute with the other
two members of the tribunal, Arias supporters, over electoral procedures. The government brought suit before the Supreme
Court for their dismissal, on the grounds that each man had a son who was a candidate for elective office. Thereupon
Gonz lez Revilla, with the backing of Arias, petitioned the National Assembly to begin impeachment proceedings against
Robles for illegal interferences in electoral matters. Among other issues, Robles was accused of diverting public funds to
Samudio’s campaign.
The National Assembly met in special session and appointed a commission to gather evidence. Robles, in turn, obtained a
judgment from a municipal court that the assembly was acting unconstitutionally. The National Assembly chose to ignore a
stay order issued by the municipal court pending the reconvening of the Supreme Court on April 1, and on March 14 it
voted for impeachment. On March 24, the National Assembly found Robles guilty and declared him deposed. Robles and
the National Guard ignored the proceedings, maintaining that they would abide by the decision of the Supreme Court when
it reconvened.
The Supreme Court, with only one dissenting vote, ruled the impeachment proceedings unconstitutional. The Electoral
Tribunal subsequently ruled that thirty of the parliamentary deputies involved in the impeachment proceedings were
ineligible for reelection. Robles, with the support of the National Guard, retained the presidency.
The election took place on May 12, 1968, as scheduled, and tension mounted over the succeeding eighteen days as the
Election Board and the Electoral Tribunal delayed announcing the results. Finally the Election Board declared that Arias had
carried the election by 175,432 votes to 133,887 for Samudio and 11,371 for Gonz lez Revilla. The Electoral Tribunal,
senior to the Board and still loyal to Robles, protested, but the commander of the National Guard, Brigadier General
Bol var Vallarino, despite past animosity toward Arias, supported the conclusion of the Board.
Arias took office on October 1, demanding the immediate return of the Canal Zone to Panamanian jurisdiction and
announcing a change in the leadership of the National Guard. He attempted to remove the two most senior officers,
Vallarino and Colonel Jos Mar a Pinilla, and appoint Colonel Bol var Urrutia to command the force. On October 11 the
Guard, for the third time, removed Arias from the presidency. With seven of his eight ministers and twentyfour members
of the National Assembly, Arias took refuge in the Canal Zone.
Data as of December 1987
Panama
The Government of Torrijos and the National Guard
The overthrow of Arias provoked student demonstrations and rioting in some of the slum areas of Panama City. The
peasants in Chiriqu Province battled guardsmen sporadically for several months, but the Guard retained control. Urrutia
was initially arrested but was later persuaded to join in the two-man provisional junta headed by Pinilla. Vallarino
remained in retirement. The original cabinet appointed by the junta was rather broad based and included several Samudio
supporters and one Arias supporter. After the first three months, however, five civilian cabinet members resigned,
accusing the new government of dictatorial practices.
The provisional junta moved swiftly to consolidate government control. Several hundred actual or potential political
leaders were arrested on charges of corruption or subversion. Others went into voluntary or imposed exile, and property
owners were threatened with expropriation. The National Assembly and all political parties were disbanded, and the
University of Panama was closed for several months while its faculty and student body were purged. The
communications media were brought under control through censorship, intervention in management, or expropriation.
Pinilla, who assumed the title of president, had declared that his government was provisional and that free elections were
to be scheduled. In January 1969, however, power actually rested in the hands of Omar Torrijos and Boris Mart nez,
commander and chief of staff, respectively, of the Guard. In early March, a speech by Martinez promising agrarian
reform and other measures radical enough to alarm landowners and entrepreneurs provoked a coup within the coup.
Torrijos assumed full control, and Martinez and three of his supporters in the military government were exiled.
Torrijos stated that “there would be less impulsiveness” in government without Martinez. Torrijos did not denounce the
proposed reforms, but he assured Panamanian and United States investors that their interests were not threatened.
Torrijos, now a brigadier general, became even more firmly entrenched in power after thwarting a coup attempted by
Colonels Amado Sanjur, Luis Q. Nentzen Franco, and Ramiro Silvera in December 1969. While Torrijos was in
Mexico, the three colonels declared him deposed. Torrijos rushed back to Panama, gathered supporters at the garrison in
David, and marched triumphantly into the capital. The colonels followed earlier competitors of Torrijos into exile.
Because the governing junta (Colonel Pinilla and his deputy, Colonel Urrutia) had not opposed the abortive coup,
Torrijos replaced them with two civilians, Demetrio B. Lakas, an engineer well liked among businessmen, and Arturo
Sucre, a lawyer and former director of the national lottery. Lakas was designated “provisional president,” and Sucre was
appointed his deputy.
In late 1969 a close associate of Torrijos announced the formation of the New Panama Movement. This movement was
originally intended to organize peasants, workers, and other social groups and was patterned after that of Mexico’s
Institutional Revolutionary Party. No organizational structure was established, however, and by 1971 the idea had been
abandoned. The government party was revived under a different name, the Democratic Revolutionary Party (Partido
Revolucionario Democr tico–PRD) in the late 1970s.
A sweeping cabinet reorganization and comments of high-ranking officials in 1971 por