Arnulfo Arias

Arnulfo Arias Madrid (15 August 1901 – 10 August 1988) was a Panamanian politician, medical doctor, and writer who served as the President of Panama from 1940 to 1941, again from 1949 to 1951, and finally for 11 days in October 1968.

Throughout his adult life, he warned about the increasing influence of the military in Panamanian politics and vowed to reduce that.

Arnulfo Arias Madrid was born in Penonomé, Coclé Province, on 15 August 1901.

Panama had been, for all intents and purposes, a U.S. protectorate since the United States helped it gain its independence in 1903 from Colombia.

Arias was branded a nationalist.

In 1925, Arias returned to Panama and assumed leadership of the nationalistic organization Patriotic Communal Action.

This organization tapped into a building current of discontent in Panama against the considerable influence the United States exerted on the country.

It formed the nucleus of the present-day Panameñista Party.

He was the son of Antonio Arias and Carmen Madrid, and the brother of Harmodio Arias, who also served as the President of Panama for 13 days in January 1931 and again from 1932 to 1936.

Arias began his studies at the French Christian Brothership (today known as La Salle) in his native city and attended secondary school in New York City.

He studied medicine and surgery at Harvard University and the University of Chicago.

Later, he specialized in psychiatry, obstetrics and endocrinology.

In 1931, Arias led a coup that deposed Liberal President Florencio Harmodio Arosemena.

The following year, he helped his brother Harmodio Arias become president.

He subsequently served in the cabinet and on diplomatic posts, including as Panama's ambassador to Italy during Benito Mussolini's reign.

Arias, despite having African heritage in his family line, was a racist.

He despised the fact that Chinese, West Indian black people and other minorities were migrating to Panama.

He proposed limitations and restrictions on "undesirable" ethnic groups and favored Caucasian, Nordic European immigration to "improve the ethnic purity" in Panama.

In one of his writings, Arias Madrid expressed openly racist views.

"'For this reason, we see with horror a black cloud of English speakers occupying new neighborhoods of our main city, and spreading through the suburbs of Las Sabanas, Pueblo Nuevo, Río Abajo... this indicates that a large sector of our people feels the desire to take measures against the degeneration of the race, or at least to hinder the entry of parasitic races as far as possible.'"In 1940, he was elected president by an unprecedented majority as the candidate of the National Revolutionary Party (PNR, which became the Panameñista Party in the mid-1940s).

Soon after taking office, Arias enacted a new constitution that granted women the right to vote for the first time.

He was ousted in October 1941, in a coup engineered by the police.

Arias was an outspoken nationalist.

His service in Italy's Mussolini era led some to claim he was pro-Axis.

With war looming some Washington politicians were leery of Arias ruling Panama.

Some historians feel Roosevelt supported his removal from the presidency.

Arias consistently opposed the influence of the police in politics, labeling it as "a cancer" on the body politic.

In turn, he was denied his presidential electoral success in 1948 by the military.

He was removed from his duly-elected presidency thrice in military coups.

He ran for president once more in 1948 as the candidate of a coalition of his party and the Authentic Revolutionary Party and clearly won but was not allowed to be seated.

However, a year later the National Assembly declared that he had actually won.

He appointed his long time collaborator, Norberto Navarro, Minister of Public Works.

Facedwith growing interference by the police, Arias suspended the constitution and created government entities to counter the power of the police.

But he failed to curb their power.

In 1951 he was overthrown by Colonel Jose Remon Cantera, Panama City's police chief, the nation did not have an army.

Arias fled the country but remained widely popular among the masses.

He ran in 1964, then won the 1968 elections as the standard-bearer of a five-party coalition.

Taking office in October, he sought to restructure the command of the National Guard.

After only eleven days as president, he was ousted for the third time and undertook a midnight escape to the Canal Zone.

Repeating mistakes which occurred in his previous administrations, Arias forgot to destroy records of his corruption and his opposition immediately capitalized.