On Friday, October 11, 1968, the National Guard deposed President Arnulfo Arias, who was in a movie theater in Panama City.

The "Provisional Junta of Government", led by colonels José María Pinilla Fábrega and Bolívar Urrutia Parrilla, would be imposed.

[1] On October 12, the newspaper El Mundo (the only one which circulated that day) indicated that a military junta took power, without mentioning the names of its members, and that National Guard troops with machine guns surrounded the residence of Arnulfo Arias, who managed to take refuge in the Panama Canal Zone.

[1][2] Having received news of the coup while in the Panama Canal Zone, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos and a few officers, including businessman Demetrio B. Lakas, sought to re-establish some form of civilian rule, even attempting to install President Arias' vice-president, Raul Arango as the new president, much to Martínez's dismay.

With enough opposition against Martinez including from the United States, Torrijos ousted and exiled Martínez and Jose Humberto Ramos to Miami on February 23, 1969, nearly four months after the initial coup.