The fourth Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Panama City, Panama, at Estadio Juan Demóstenes Arosemena. These games were held three years after the last games to get the games back to the year they should have been, after a five-year break on the previous games. The Games were held from 5 to 24 February 1938, and included 1,216 athletes from ten nations, competing in sixteen different sports.
