Panama POLITICAL FORCES
Political rally with poster of Torrijos
Courtesy National Archives
Opposition march in Panama City, August 1987
Courtesy Picture Group (Bill Gentile)
General Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno, August 1987
Courtesy Picture Group (Bill Gentile)
During the first decades of independence, Panamanian politics
were largely dominated by traditional, upper class families in
Panama City. By the 1940s, however, the populist nationalism of
Arnulfo Arias and the growing strength of the National Police
(later the National Guard and then the FDP) had begun a steady
process of reducing the oligarchy's ability to control events.
Following World War II, students and, to a lesser extent, labor
groups became more active in national politics. The 1968 military
coup, which brought Torrijos to power, represented both the
ascendancy of the military as the preeminent political force in
Panama and a further diminution in the influence of traditional
political parties and elite families. At the same time, the growth
of the Panamanian economy gave business and professional
organizations greater importance and potential influence.
From the 1964 riots until the 1978 ratification of the Panama
Canal Treaties, the issue of United States control over the Panama
Canal dominated the national political scene
(see The 1964 Riots
, ch. 1). When treaty ratification largely removed that issue, the
focus shifted back to internal political conditions, and pressures,
both domestic and international, for a return to civilian rule
mounted steadily. Internal political dynamics had changed
fundamentally, however, during the Torrijos era. His death in 1981
unleashed a struggle for power within the military, between the
military and civilians, and among civilians, which has continued
and intensified in subsequent years.
Data as of December 1987
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