This article explores the influence of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser in Latin America. In the 1950's, a generation of Latin American intellectuals and politicians saw in the success of the emergent Arab Nationalism, epitomized by Nasser, an example to emulate. In Panama, the 1956 Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal would trigger a new wave of demands against the control and ownership of the interoceanic canal by the United States. Across the region, confronted with the onset of reactionary regimes, intellectuals from the left would call for the need of a Latin American Nasser; a modern day caudillo, that would come from the Armed Forces donned with the force of an uncompromised nationalism and a unnegotiable commitment to social progress.
Nationalism; Panama; Nasserism