He continued to be an active voice in Panamanian politics following his resignation, supporting the Panama Canal expansion project and opposing the extradition of Noriega.
[4] Arnulfo Arias was narrowly defeated by Noriega ally Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino, and the opposition stated that the election had been fraudulent.
[5] In February 1988, plainclothes police officers forced Arias Calderón and his wife onto a plane to Costa Rica at gunpoint, and the couple spent a month in exile in Miami.
Days after the completion of voting, Endara, Arias, and Ford were attacked on camera by Noriega supporters while security forces observed and refused to intervene.
[2] His defense of former PDF soldiers split supporters of the coalition government, and in May 1990, sparked rumors that he and the CDP were attempting a coup while Endara was out of the country.
[10] Arias resigned from the vice presidency on December 17, 1992, stating at a news conference that Endara's government "does not listen to the people, nor does it have the courage to make changes".
[13] Arias was criticized in 1998 by Endara's successor, Ernesto Pérez Balladares, as "immoral" for having claimed almost $100,000 in salary from his time as vice president despite having resigned.
He later pressed criminal defamation charges against La Prensa cartoonist Julio Briceño for a cartoon of Arias standing besides the Grim Reaper, representing the new alliance.
Arias additionally asked for a million dollars in damages, stating "That cartoon made me an accomplice of a crime ... That was a defamation I could not accept or tolerate.
[17] Arias opposed the 2011 extradition of Noriega from France to Panama, warning that the former dictator could institute a "demagogic populism" similar to that of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.