All Panama seemed to be in a holiday mood last week, and indeed the country was celebrating a festival of sorts. For the more than 700,000 Panamanians who voted in a plebiscite to ratify the new canal treaties with the U.S., it was the first chance to go to the polls on any national issue since General Omar Torrijos seized power in 1968 and outlawed political parties four months later. Torrijos had encouraged political debate on the treaties in order to counter suspicions in the U.S. that the plebiscite was rigged, and he got...
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