People's Party of Panama ( es, Partido del Pueblo de Panamá, PPP) was a

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. It was founded on 4 April 1930 as the Communist Party of Panama (''Partido Comunista de Panamá'', PCP), after Panamanian communists broke away from the Labour Party. Early leaders of the PCP included Eliseo Echévez and Cristóbal Segundo.Busky, Donald F.
Communism in History and Theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas
'. Westport, Conn. ;London: Praeger, 2002. p. 195 The PCP joined the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

and reached its apogee of popularity during and right after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

.Political parties of the Americas: Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies. V. 1. Edited by Robert J. Alexander. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982. Pp. 566. In 1943 the PCP changed its name to the People's Party of Panama.Political Handbook of the world, 1993. New York, 1993. Pp. 638. The small but well-organized party then exerted considerable influence on the Panamanian Federation of Students and on the trade union movements in

and the Canal Zone. It long controlled the Trade Union Federation of Workers of Panama. "''After

the party concentrated on attacking the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

presence in

, leading the Panamanian government to crack down on it and then outlaw it in 1953. Subsequently, Communist influence in

's trade unions declined greatly and many party members defected to other groups''". In the mid-1960s, the U.S. State Department estimated the party's membership to be approximately 400. Although small in membership, for several years during the 1970s the PPP acted as the principal source of organized political support for the

Omar Torrijos Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and military leader of Panama from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, ...

government, particularly on the Panama Canal issue. It resisted the formation of the broader based Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and lost a considerable amount of its power during the late 1970s as a result. The party was permitted to operate semi-publicly. In 1979 it applied for formal recognition and, with some 77,000 members, was easily able to demonstrate the required level of support. One of its candidates, running as an independent, obtained a Legislative Council seat in 1980. In 1984 the party broke from the pro-government National Democratic Union (UNADE) coalition because UNADE no longer followed the reformist ideas of

. The PPP ran its own presidential candidate in 1984 ( Carlos Del Cid); in 1989 it allied with the National Liberation Coalition (COLINA) and its candidate

Carlos Duque Carlos Alberto Duque Jaén (March 12, 1930 – October 31, 2014) was a Panamanian businessman and politician who was President-for-Life of Panama's Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD). He was a presidential candidate for the PRD in the 19 ...

. Since 1951 the General Secretary of the PPP has been Ruben Darío Sousa Batista (sometimes known by his pseudonym, Vicente Tello). The PPP was derecognized by the Electoral Tribunal on 1 July 1991.Electoral Tribunal

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:People's Party Of Panama

Communist parties in Panama International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Political parties established in 1930 Political parties in Panama São Paulo Forum