This organization tapped into a building current of discontent in Panama against the considerable influence the United States exerted on the country.

He subsequently served in the cabinet and on diplomatic posts, including as Panama's ambassador to Italy during Benito Mussolini's reign.

Repeating mistakes which occurred in his previous administrations, Arias forgot to destroy records of his corruption and his opposition immediately capitalized.

Arias, having seen his guards disappear and after receiving a call from the Costa Rican President José Joaquín Trejos Fernández, warning him that the border had been closed; he left the palace along with Hildebrando Nicosia, his chief of staff.

[citation needed] Nicosia called Michael J. Merry, his son-in-law and manager of a U.S. communications company, and asked him to pick up Arias and three ministers of state at a prearranged location.

With the country's leaders and an arsenal of automatic weapons in his vehicle, Merry drove through the military blockade to safety in the Panama Canal Zone, where the headquarters for the government in exile had been prepared.

[citation needed] Since the Canal Zone, an independent political entity, authorities would not allow the weapons to remain in its territory, Merry was forced to bluff his way back to Panama City, through the National Guard border blockade and patrols to safety.

[citation needed] After the U.S. pressured military leader Omar Torrijos to liberalize his regime, Arias and Nicosia returned to Panama in 1978.

His campaign was complicated by a book Holocaust in Panama, distributed by Noriega with help from the Israeli Mossad, that fraudulently claimed Arias had arranged a massacre of Jews in 1941.

[2] When exit polls showed Arias with a substantial lead, the government, now controlled by Manuel Noriega, halted the count and brazenly manipulated the results to declare that its favored candidate, Nicolás Ardito Barletta, had won by a mere 1,713 votes.

On the morning of 10 August 1988, Arnulfo died of a heart attack at his Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, Florida home.

Following the transfer of his body to Panama City and an enormous funeral where his supporters protested against Noriega, Arias was buried in Jardin de Paz cemetery (Located in Parque Lefevre) on 15 August, the day of what would have been his 87th birthday.

Despite defeating pro-Noriega candidate Carlos Duque by an overwhelming margin, the results were annulled by the government, and Endara and his running mates were badly beaten in the streets by the paramilitary Dignity Battalions.

[7] He was re-buried in a mausoleum close to the Arias Madrid Family Museum, located in the town of Penonomé, Coclé Province, Panama.