Panama, Community Action
Panama, Community Action
This nationalistic organization was founded in Panama on 19 August 1923 by middle-class professionals. The group promoted nationalism because it feared that Panama would cease to exist as a result of the dominating U.S. presence in the country. Its motto was, "Speak Spanish and count in balboas," Arnulfo Arias Madrid, one of the group's leaders and a president in the 1940s, had sympathies for fascist ideas. The group opposed corruption and incompetence in the government and called for more citizen participation in the affairs of the state. In 1926, Acción Comunal led a successful campaign against the ratification of a new treaty with the United States. In 1931, it led a revolution that overthrew the government. This was the first time since its separation from Colombia that a government was overthrown in Panama.
See alsoArias Madrid, Arnulfo .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Víctor Manuel Pérez and Rodrigo Oscar De León Lerma, El movimiento de Acción Comunal en Panamá (1964?).
Additional Bibliography
Pearcy, Thomas L. We Answer Only to God: Politics and the Military in Panama, 1903–1947. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Juan Manuel PÉrez