Panama Meanwhile, Back in Panama

If the Noriega trial seems like a fiasco, consider the plight of his country one year after the U.S. invasion

Even as the case against Manuel Noriega was degenerating into a legal three- ring circus, the country he once dominated was mired in a deep slump. Nearly a year after being installed by the U.S. invasion, the government of President Guillermo Endara is stumbling badly in the monumental chore of rebuilding a country devastated by corruption and the financial squeeze applied by the U.S. during the final two years of Noriega's reign. Though Bush Administration officials praise Endara for his good intentions, they fear that he and his government may not be up to the task of converting Panama into a...

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