from Colombia in 1903, Panama was for decades run, under American tutelage, by the 'families,' a small political elite." Between 1904 and 1932, Panamanian governments were unstable and changed frequently, with the United States directly intervening five times in Panamanian domestic affairs, as it had a right to do under the Panama Canal treaty, to restore order. The domination of Panamanian politics by the oligarchy, which Black and Flores say "tended to be composed of a few, wealthy, white families" was interrupted by the election of the first nationalist leaders, Harmodio Arias, who came from a lower-class mestizo family and was elected president in 1932, and his brother, Arnulfo Arias, who succeeded him in 1940. Arnulfo Arias was, however, not only a nationalist but also a white supremacist and pro-Axis. He was deposed by the National Police in late 1941.
Constitutional rule was restored in 1946. In 1948, Arnulfo Arias' apparent victory in the 1948 presidential election was nullified by National Police Commander Jose Remon, who then allowed Arias to function as president from 1949 to 1951, only to remove him again. Black and Flores say that "between 1948 and 1952, . . . Remon installed and removed presidents with unencumbered ease." After being popularly elected president in 1952, Remon in 1955 was assassinated. In 1956, Ernesto de la Guardia, the candidate of the party founded by Remon, the National Patriotic Coalition, was elected president but only one opposition party, the National Liberty Party (PLN), was permitted to oppose him.
Between 1956 and 1968, Panamanian politics were dominated by issues relating to the Panama Canal and nationalist agitation against American hegemony over Panama. In 1960, Roberto Chiari, the candidate of the National Opposition Union (a combination of PLN and other dissenting groups) was elected president. Black and Flores say that "Chiari had the distinction of being the first opposition ...