Formed in 1945, the party went through a series of mergers and fractures before dissolving in 1954 after the United States-backed coup d'état.
The PAR was formed in late 1945 through the merger of the National Renovation Party (PRN) and the Popular Liberation Front (FPL), which had supported the presidency of Juan José Arévalo.
[1] The fracturing of the PAR was partially due to the manipulations of Arévalo, who preferred not to confront a single large party in parliament.
[3] One year later, Fortuny and other young radical figures founded a covert group within the PAR called the Vanguardia Democratica (Democratic Vanguard),[3] which believed in Marxist politics.
[4] This group, which included Guerra Borges, Silva Jonama, and Alvarado Monzón, continually clashed with the more conservative factions of the party, led by Charnaud MacDonald and Humberto González Huárez.
[2] At approximately the same time, Fortuny was approached twice by Francisco Javier Arana, seeking the PAR's support for his candidacy in the next presidential election.
The CNCG, founded in 1950 by a PAR deputy named Castillo Flores, had its base among farm laborers, and thus grew in strength after the implementation of the agrarian reform policy of 1952.
In October 1953, Secretary General Francisco Fernández Foncea stood up in parliament while intoxicated, and stated that he supported the communist PGT, while describing the PAR as a "temporary party.