 Arias'maternal family was from Nicaragua, having left during political upheaval there before Arias' birth. One of Arias' great uncles ran for president in Panama, while another was a supporter of the Nicaraguan revolutionary Sandino, a family history that gave Arias an early interest in politics. His father, an engineer, died when Arias was two years old, and he was raised primarily by his mother, aunt, and grandmother. His mother later remarried to a Panamanian ambassador to the United States.
