However, through terror and censorship the National Guard managed to discourage civilians from supplying and supporting the guerrillas, and the insurgency eventually ended.

On October 11, 1968, the National Guard of Panama, led by Major Boris Martínez, overthrew president Arnulfo Arias, who had just assumed office two weeks earlier after winning the election of 1968.

Some opponents of the coup, like Rafael Franceshi and Enrique Moreno, fled across the border to Costa Rica, where Arnulfo Arias sent them money which they used to buy weapons.

[3] Before midnight on October 12, 1968, a group of ten guerrillas ambushed a National Guard patrol truck near Nueva California, Chiriquí.

There were no casualties, but the next day the National Guard detachment in the area was reinforced, and it arrested and burned the homes of supporters of Arnulfo Arias.