Word: chorrillo
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Panamanians hailed the American invaders as liberators, even in El Chorrillo, a burned-out section of Panama City where many were left homeless. Residents of the down-at-the-heels area were quick to assert that the fires were not caused by U.S. military action but were deliberately set by Noriega's paramilitary Dignity Battalions. Eulalia Sanchez paused while burning garbage in a vacant lot in front of her damaged El Chorrillo home to declare, "We are very happy with the gringos. They freed us from the tyranny of Noriega...
Inevitably there were mistakes. Many paratroopers missed their landing zones. The shelling of Noriega's Comandancia headquarters destroyed houses in the adjacent Chorrillo neighborhood, where many poor people live. Air attacks on the San Miguelito area were devastating. The U.S. embassy said 300 Panamanian civilians died (unofficial estimates go as high as 800), an alarming toll. Many Panamanians criticized the failure of the Americans to move against the looting that engulfed Panama City. "There should have been troops placed along commercial arteries," complained Steve Maduro, a past director of Panama's Chamber of Commerce. "Our police force was nonexistent...
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