Word: generality
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Noriega, who remained out of sight for most of the week, did not emerge unscathed from the sorry election exercise. Panamanian voters dealt him a stinging rebuke in rejecting, by more than 2 to 1, the presidential candidacy of Carlos Duque, the general's longtime friend and business manager. So clear was the electorate's embrace of the opposition, a coalition known as the Democratic Alliance of Civil Opposition and led by lawyer Guillermo Endara, that authorities felt obliged to declare the election null and void. That decision was widely interpreted as an admission by Noriega that given such...
...week ago. The elections bestowed a certain legitimacy on the opposition and forced Noriega to consult more frequently than usual with the military, the key to his power. Noriega may also be looking over his shoulder more often at rank-and-file members of the PDF , as the general's election analysts concede that significant numbers of uniformed voters chose Endara over Duque. Even Panama's highly influential Roman Catholic Church, which had remained silent throughout the crisis, felt compelled to issue a statement deploring Noriega's effort to "frustrate popular will...
Despite Noriega's violent tactics, the opposition was willing to meet with the Panamanian leader. There were hints that Noriega might also be amenable to talks. One of the general's supporters, former Commerce Minister Mario Rognoni, suggested that possible intermediaries for such an undertaking might be Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, a Mexican official or a papal envoy. But precisely what would be negotiated at such a session remained unclear. Noriega may plan eventually to schedule another presidential election and find another loyalist to serve as his stand-in. Endara and his allies, for their part, are adamant...
Other Noriega confidants speculated that the general might be willing to step down -- provided Washington drops its drug indictments against him. That is a condition that Reagan accepted a year ago but that Bush has rejected. Noriega may attempt to reopen negotiations with the U.S. on that matter, if only to buy time. Unless a solution can be found quickly, Bush, like Reagan, could find himself sinking ever deeper into a frustrating brawl with a dictator whom few care for but no one knows...
...bloody eruption in Panama's streets last week, Central America bureau chief John Moody had a powerful sense of deja vu. He had spent ten weeks in Panama last year reporting on the riots that accompanied the Reagan Administration's efforts to bring down the country's dictator, General Manuel Antonio Noriega. On both occasions, Moody felt a shiver of physical danger. Last year Moody was chased by several of Noriega's riot police, called the Dobermans. "When they finally cornered me, I figured my time had come," he recalls. "I was more than a bit surprised when the head...