Word: noriega
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WASHINGTON--President Bush said yesterday that Panama's presidential election was marred by fraud and irregularities and called on military ruler Manuel Antonio Noriega to "heed the call of the people" and relinquish power...
...call on all foreign leaders to urge Gen. Noriega to honor the clear results of the election," Bush said in a hurriedly called question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office...
...Washington's game plan remains vague. The Administration has pledged that no deal will be cut with Noriega to quash the drug indictments. And a high-level official says that a fraudulent election will prompt the U.S. to consider new "diplomatic, intelligence and military" options, the first time the Bush team has suggested an armed intervention...
Other deadlines also press. Come September, the presidential term of Eric Arturo Delvalle expires. Though he was forced from office by Noriega 14 months ago, the U.S. continues to recognize the exiled Delvalle as the legitimate President, and has used that handy fiction to withhold $86.5 million in fees collected by the Panama Canal Commission. Bush must decide what to do with those funds, which are legally owed to Panama. Moreover, under the terms of the canal treaty, the American administrator of the PCC must be replaced by a Panamanian by January 1990. The U.S. Senate will have to approve...
...Panama's problem is not just Noriega. The general's friends say he is tired of facing down the gringos, but even if he capitulates, there is little evidence that the defense forces plan to retire to the barracks. "For real democracy to take place in Panama," Moss warns, "it will be a long-term workout, a gradual weaning away of the military from direct power." To encourage that, the Bush Administration must enlist Latin American allies. Recourse to the big stick will only sour relations with the region...