National Patriotic Coalition Coalición Patriótica Nacional | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1952 (1952) |
| Dissolved | 1981 |
| Merged into | Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement |
| Headquarters | Panama City,Panama |
| Ideology | Panamaniannationalism Conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right toright-wing |
TheNational Patriotic Coalition (inSpanish:Coalición Patriótica Nacional, CPN) was aPanamanianconservativenationalistpolitical party.
It was founded in advance of the election of 1952 to support the presidential aspirations of ColonelJosé Antonio Remón Cantera, head of theNational Police.[1]Its six original members were theRenewal Party (PREN),Liberal Party “del Matadero” (PL),National Revolutionary Party (PNR),Authentic Revolutionary Party (PRA),Popular Union Party (PUP) andPatriotic Youth Front (FJP).[2]In 1953 the CPN, a coalition of several parties, was reorganized as a single party. It was the government party duringJosé Antonio Remón Cantera's presidency and continued to be one of the principal parties until the late 1960s.[3]
The ideology of CPN was vague:[4] it supported the developmentalist and reformist policies of theRemón government (1952–1955), followingRemón's assassination in 1955, supported the conservativeRicardo Arias government (1955–1956) andErnesto de la Guardia government (1956–1960), which dismantled many ofRemón's progressive reforms,[5] and in the early 1960s included among its deputies in the National AssemblyThelma King, who for a while was one of the principal advocates ofCastroist tendencies inPanama.[6]
The CPN was the official government party from its formation in 1952 until 1960. In the 1956 elections the CPN's presidential candidate wasErnesto de la Guardia; he polled 177,633 votes (68.49%) in the election.[7]
Meantime, the CPN, undisturbed by any effective opposition in the National Assembly, began to suffer serious dissension within its own ranks.[8]
Remón conceived of the CPN as a system whereby political power was wielded by one faction of the official party and then another.De la Guardia abetted friction among the parties in the official coalition. He refused a cabinet post to the CPN faction of First Vice-PresidentTemístocles Díaz Q. Nor was the bloc of seats in the National Assembly allowed theDíaz faction proportionate to its electoral strength. Perhaps as a direct affront toTemístocles Díaz, the President namedGilberto Arias Guardia, a nephew of the former PresidentArnulfo Arias, to the cabinet. The enmity betweenTemístocles Díaz and the elderGilberto Arias was notorious.Gilberto Arias' incorporation into the cabinet did not reflect a shift in party alignments, but it neutralized theArias news media.[9]
Coincident with the downgrading ofTemístocles Díaz and his CPN faction was the upgrading of theLiberal Democrata group. FollowingRemón's assassination, the formerRenewal Party (PREN) faction underRicardo Arias guided the CPN, but whenErnesto de la Guardia was elected president, he lured theLiberal Democrata faction and gave it dominance in the CPN.[10]Formerly a part of theNational Liberal Party, theLiberal Democratas had opposed theRemón regime. For having switched to the CPN after theRemón's death, theLiberal Democratas were rewarded with the foreign ministry and the agriculture, commerce, and industry portfolio.[11]
A first formal split in the CPN took place on 27 May 1957 whenTemístocles Díaz Q. with 37 prominent members, resigned from the CPN and took with him six deputies of the National Assembly of formerPopular Union Party andAuthentic Revolutionary Party.[12]The reason for the split was general dissatisfaction with the president's political leadership. On 3 June 1957,Díaz was joined in his stand by former PresidentAlcibíades Arosemena and four ex-cabinet members and formed a new party named the National Liberation Movement to opposede la Guardia.[13]This was a severe blow to the political supporters of President. The formation of theNational Liberation Movement led byTemístocles Díaz Q. created additional problems for the disintegrating CPN. Thede la Guardia administration generally tended to be overwhelmed by its domestic problems and the rapid pace of events in foreign affairs.
In 1958,Aquilino Boyd withdrew his faction and created theThird Nationalist Party, which joined the PLN coalition. In 1959 the former PREN faction, the faction ofAlfredo Alemán and the faction ofCarlos Sucre Calvo, who was a faction leader in the CPN duringRemón's tenure, left the CPN and registered as separate political parties (Renewal Party,DIPAL Party andProgressive National Party).[14]
In 1960Ricardo Arias, the candidate of CPN, unsuccessfully ran in the presidential elections, obtaining only 85,981 votes (35.61%).[15]
In 1963 formerPopular Union Party faction, led byBernardino González Ruíz, left the CPN and registered as theDemocratic Action Party.[16]
For the 1964 elections, the CPN was the main component of theNational Opposition Alliance (ANO), with the CPN'sJuan de Arco Galindo as the coalition's presidential candidate. He polled 47,753 votes (14.62%) and came third.[17]In 1968 CPN allied with theNational Union (UN) and its candidateArnulfo Arias, the CPN polled only 19,072 votes (05.95%).[18]
All political parties including the CPN were banned byOmar Torrijos after the military coup of 1968.
In 1981 the CPN joined theThird Nationalist Party,National Liberation Movement and factions that had earlier split off fromNational Liberal Party andRepublican Party to form the oppositionNational Liberal Republican Movement (MOLIRENA).[19]