Word: noriega
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...press freedom the only area where the regime of General Manuel Antonio Noriega was coming under pressure. The Panamanian strongman angrily rejected a plan to get him to hand over power to a civilian government. Drafted with U.S. backing by Jose Blandon, a trusted Noriega ally, the proposal called for the general to retire by spring and for free elections to be held in 1989. Noriega responded by having Blandon fired as Panama's consul general in New York City...
...general's reaction dismayed White House officials. Blandon drew up his plan last fall after mass protests swept Panama, prompted by charges that implicated Noriega in murder, drug smuggling and election fraud. According to Gabriel Lewis, Panama's former U.S. Ambassador, Noriega had asked Blandon for a blueprint that would let him retire without facing U.S. reprisals. Lewis arranged an October meeting between Blandon and Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, who stressed Washington's desire for democracy in Panama...
Blandon was in Washington last week to deliver fresh charges against his former boss. Republican Senator Alfonse D'Amato of New York, co-chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, met with Blandon for three hours. D'Amato said afterward that Noriega had apparently used the / Panamanian military to found a "total criminal empire probably as large as any that may exist in the world." According to the Senator, Noriega's activities ranged "from drug running, protection, money laundering and arms trafficking to the illegal sale of passports." D'Amato quickly secured U.S. Marshals Service protection for Blandon...
...Panama's Strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega supplies Nicaragua with intelligence reports on U.S. military movements in the region...
Miranda also detailed instances of alleged double-dealing by Noriega. He charged that the Panamanian general regularly informs Nicaragua's Chief of Army Intelligence Major Ricardo Wheelock of military movements involving the U.S. Southern Command in Panama, which is the U.S. military headquarters for Latin America. Miranda charged that last August, as relations between the Reagan Administration and Noriega soured, the Panamanian told Wheelock that he wanted to send arms through Nicaragua to the Salvadoran rebels. Miranda claimed that top Sandinistas approved the scheme, but he does not know if the shipment took place...