Word: noriega
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...Each received a check that was initially uncashable, along with the right to pay a discount price for a bag containing rice, beans, salt and other basic foods meant to feed a family of five for a week. Outraged workers poured the salt on office steps and chanted anti-Noriega slogans. Firing tear gas and bird shot, riot police broke up demonstrations at the Education Ministry in Panama City and in the ports of Balboa and Cristobal. A day later doctors and nurses at two state-run hospitals hurled rocks at police and then fled inside. Showers of Molotov cocktails...
...confrontations scarcely matched the anger that exploded after the coup attempt. Emboldened by rumors that Noriega had been toppled, some Panamanians went on a protest spree that degenerated into sporadic rioting. While some neighborhoods stayed calm in Panama City, streets and alleys in others were thick with smoke from burning mounds of garbage, tires and trees. Looters set fire to shops and a department store near Noriega's headquarters. Striking utility workers deepened the gloom. Power-company employees cut electric service; telephone lines went dead...
...restore order, Noriega sent soldiers armed with M-16 rifles into the streets. The troops cleared roads and kept crowds from collecting. The military took over all public utilities, restored most electricity service and reopened telephone lines...
...measure of calm returned to the capital, observers tried to piece together how the coup attempt had developed. Informed sources said the plotters contacted at least one high-ranking U.S. military officer before the attempt and originally intended to move against Noriega on Wednesday night. Perhaps fearful that their plans might leak, they struck in the morning instead. But the hastily planned attempt was a study in failure...
...Major Fernando Quesada, the conspirators arrived at Noriega's headquarters on Panama City's Avenue A while their quarry was at another military compound. Troops loyal to Noriega had little difficulty in capturing the muddled plotters. At one point Quesada was taken before a company of crack troops to be introduced as their new leader. Instead, a loyal officer barked out, "This man wants to overthrow Comandante Noriega. Arrest him!" When Noriega arrived in his bulletproof Mercedes at 8:15 a.m., the brief rebellion was over. In the aftermath, at least 30 people were taken into custody. Noriega used...