Word: noriega
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...general was among the few Panamanians to keep office hours that day. The raid on the Diaz Herrera residence coincided with the start of a general strike called by a broad coalition of groups determined to topple Noriega. The work stoppage was the latest evidence of mounting pressure for Noriega's ouster. The unrest began two months ago when Diaz Herrera publicly charged Noriega with corruption, election fraud and masterminding the murder of a leading opponent. Since then, the clamor to dump Noriega has grown more insistent. Indeed, Reagan Administration officials, anxious for Noriega to step down, said privately last...
...prolonged battle. In anticipation of the general strike, which for two days closed 90% of all businesses in Panama City, the government imposed a news blackout. Troops seized the offices of the leading opposition newspaper, La Prensa, and shut down two other papers as well. On Friday, Noriega's backers staged a rally of 50,000, many of them government workers, in the capital...
...Noriega also took aim at the country's increasingly belligerent students. Early last Wednesday, several hundred students at the University of Panama protested the death of Eduardo Enrique Carrera, 24, a classmate who had been killed by police fire three days earlier. Though the military said Carrera was shot after scuffling with police, relatives claimed that the boy was slain after he shouted, "Down with Noriega!" Riot squads, known as the Dobermans, dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas and bird shot. Classes were suspended for the rest of the week...
Intimidation tactics seem only to have toughened the resolve of the National Civic Crusade, an assortment of 107 business, civic and student organizations that are pushing for Noriega's removal. Even the example made of Diaz Herrera, who faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of sedition, has failed to subdue the Crusade's passion. Three days after Diaz Herrera's arrest, members of the opposition attended Carrera's funeral dressed in white, their symbolic color of protest, and passed out mimeographed statements...
What began primarily as a squabble between Noriega's cronies and affluent businessmen has mushroomed into a movement that now includes a large slice of Panama's middle class. Moreover, antagonism toward Noriega is spreading outward from the capital to points up and down the S-shaped isthmus. Last week's general strike closed hundreds of businesses in the provinces. "We were frankly surprised," said Ricardo Arias Calderon, an opposition leader. "The shutdown had a national character we hadn't expected." The protest, however, did not affect activity along the Panama Canal, which grosses up to $500 million a year...