Three Outs for Arias

Three times in the past three decades, Panamanian Politician Arnulfo Arias has been elected President of his small (pop. 1.3 million) country. Twice, in 1941 and 1951, he was thrown out of power. Both times he was ousted by Panama's National Guard, the country's only military force, which took exception to his highhanded policies and acted jointly with Arias' political enemies. The same thing happened again last week. Only eleven days after his inauguration for his latest term, the National Guard once more ousted Arias, who fled to safety in the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone.

Two main factors were behind the coup. For one thing, even though the Guard had supported him during the election, Arias reawakened the officers' longstanding animosity by trying to weaken the Guard's grip on the country's political life. He threatened to transfer, and in one case exile, a number of the leading officers. In addition, after he won a landslide victory over former Finance Minister David Samudio, Arias outraged many Panamanians by undertaking a series of unsavory political maneuvers designed to give his followers a majority in the 42-seat National Assembly.

The officers decided to strike first. The co-leaders of the coup were Lieut. Colonel Omar Torrijos, the Guard's executive officer, who had been ordered to leave Panama, and Major Boris Martinez, who is the commander of Chiriqui province military zone. At their bidding one evening last week, their brother officers quietly dispatched units from the 3,900-man force to shoo civilians off the streets of the country's two main cities, Panama City and Colon, seize the radio stations and close the international airport. Arias, 67, who is experienced in such matters, at once drove the half-mile from Panama City to the haven of the Canal Zone.

After the coup, Colonel Torrijos explained that a two-man provisional junta, composed of Colonels Jose M. Pinilla and Bolivar Urrutia, would govern the country only until a new electoral law could be drawn up and elections held for the presidency and National Assembly. Torrijos promised that Guard officers would not be allowed to run for office. Whoever comes to power in Panama must face the extremely sensitive task of negotiating a new treaty with the U.S. about the status of the 54-year-old canal and the possibility of building a new one. The political rallying cry in Panama is for the U.S. to give up sovereignty and control of the 557-sq.-mi. Canal Zone. The Zone has been under U.S. administration since the Americans opened the canal in 1914, and nationalist sentiment runs high in Panama to alter that Yankee domination.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.