Word: inter-american
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Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. This was a sleepy backwater at State until the combative Elliott Abrams took over in 1985. Bush's selection will indicate whether he will keep pursuing military support for the Nicaraguan contras or try more diplomatic approaches to influence the Sandinista regime. Other big items: developing a strategy for fighting Latin drug lords, bolstering the feeble governments of El Salvador and Honduras, and figuring out how to deal with Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega, who remains under indictment...
Arias confronted Ortega head on, asking him if he was willing to make concessions, says Peter Hakim, staff director of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Inter-American Dialogue. If not, then it would be better for the leaders to go right to dinner and cut the meeting short, Arias said, according to Hakim...
Criticism is aimed primarily at Elliott Abrams, the State Department's Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs. Despite getting into trouble for misleading Congress about U.S. aid to the contras, Abrams still enjoys Shultz's support. Stubborn and often intolerant of dissent, he fought for what he saw as a worthwhile goal: ousting Noriega. But Pentagon brass, who balked at threatening Noriega with force, say Abrams gave little thought to the other possible effects of his actions. "Nobody disagrees that Noriega must go," says a senior Defense Department official. "We just think State ((meaning Abrams)) is bungling...
...even as the U.S.-Panamanian showdown grew more bitter, rumors circulated that the two sides might strike a deal. According to Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, a Noriega envoy had asked whether the indictment could be withdrawn. "The general is willing to go, but he's not going to be dragged out like a dog," said a Panamanian who knows the general well. Another Panamanian hinted that the leader might consider retiring on April 23, the 25th anniversary of his entrance into the Defense Forces. A second possible date: Aug. 12, when Noriega completes...
...latest attempt may have begun two weeks ago, when Delvalle met in Miami with Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. Some sources said Abrams broached the idea of firing the strongman to remedy the political and economic crisis that has gripped Panama since anti-Noriega demonstrations took place last summer. According to one account, Abrams told Delvalle, "You know as well as I do that Mr. Noriega has to leave." Several days later Panamanian official asked Abrams whether the U.S. could withdraw the drug indictments against the general to induce him to step down. The answer...