[2] Arias took office on 1 October, demanding the immediate return of the Canal Zone to Panamanian jurisdiction and announcing a change in the leadership of the National Guard.
[6] The overthrow of Arnulfo Arias provoked student demonstrations and rioting in some of the slum areas of Panama City.
Bolívar Urrutia was initially arrested but was later persuaded to join in the two-man provisional junta headed by José María Pinilla.
José María Pinilla, who assumed the title of president, had declared that his government was provisional and that free elections were to be scheduled.
In January 1969, however, power actually rested in the hands of Omar Torrijos and Boris Martínez, commander and chief of staff, respectively, of the Guard.
[9] Torrijos, now a brigadier general, became even more firmly entrenched in power after thwarting a coup attempted by Colonels Amado Sanjur, Luis Q. Nentzen Franco, and Ramiro Silvera in December 1969.