Word: coupe
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...gunfire soon erupted inside and outside the building. Within 90 minutes, the rebels had seized the Comandancia, as it is known locally, and trapped Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega in a small part of the compound. At 11:30, the insurgents issued a statement on national radio proclaiming their coup a success...
...commander and turn him over to American authorities to stand trial on drug charges. Last week, after a group of rebellious officers actually had Noriega under their guns, debate raged in Washington about whether the characteristically cautious Bush Administration could have -- and should have -- done more to help the coup's leaders. Senators, senior officials and military officers alike wondered: Had the U.S. fumbled its best opportunity to seize Noriega? Or had it sidestepped a diplomatically dangerous and probably ineffective intervention...
Bush and his deputies replied, with considerable justification, that it would have been irresponsible to implicate the U.S. fully in a fuzzy coup scheme that would have riled much of Latin America. Still, their tangled and tentative reaction to the uprising raised disturbing questions about the Administration's ability to respond to a crisis. In the three days leading up to and during the coup, the U.S. was hobbled by a breakdown of communications, a distressing lack of reliable intelligence and an obvious dearth of contingency plans should the call for a revolt against Noriega finally be answered...
...least, the Administration was caught in embarrassing contradictions about its role. Two hours after the coup collapsed, Noriega offered his version of events. "This is part of the continuing aggression and penetration of the P.D.F. by the U.S.," he charged on national television. As evidence, the general's supporters pointed to U.S. Army helicopters that passed close to the Comandancia during the fighting and the hundreds of troops who were deployed, within areas under U.S. jurisdiction, in positions blocking two of the roads leading into the city. That forced Noriega's allies to use alternate routes to transport loyal units...
Bush's deputies had difficulty answering congressional questions concerning what they knew about the attempted coup, when they knew it, and why they opted for such a muted response. White House chief of staff John Sununu ordered an investigation of the Administration's handling of the failed coup, as did two congressional committees. Conceded a senior White House official: "You could ) make a good case that we had something of an intelligence failure." Said another: "There's no excuse. We've had a big presence in Panama and close ties with its military for a long time...