Arias Madrid, Arnulfo (1901-1988)

Panamanian authoritarian political leader, president 1940-41, 1949-51, and October 1968. He was elected president in 1940 by a large majority and, influenced by European fascism, pursued controversial racist policies, disenfranchising the non-Spanish-speaking population, declaring support for the Axis powers during World War II, and imprisoning dissidents. He was ousted in October 1941 in a US-supported coup and was exiled until 1945. Arias was re-elected president in 1949, but was deposed in May 1951, after suspending the constitution and establishing his own secret police; he lost his political rights until 1960. After an unsuccessful presidential bid in 1964, he was elected in 1968, but was ousted by the National Guard after only 11 days. He failed in a final presidential bid, made in 1984. His wife, Mireya Moscoso, was elected president of Panama in 1999.

Born into a prominent Panamanian family, he studied medicine at Harvard University and, in 1931, led the US-based Communal Action coup that deposed President Florencio Harmodio Arosemena. Too young to become president himself, he served as agriculture and public works minister under his brother, Harmodio Arias (1886-1962), who was president 1932-36 and held diplomatic posts in Europe.