Trouble in Panama

The pretense that Panama has a democratic government came tumbling down last week when leaders of the military forced President Nicolas Ardito Barletta to resign as a result of the political scandal caused by the murder of a prominent Panamanian physician.

Dr. Hugo Spadafora was a colorful and controversial character who had fought alongside guerrillas in Nicaragua--first against Anastasio Somoza, then against the Sandinista government that succeeded him. He sometimes talked of using his guerrilla experience to wage a revolution in Panama to bring down the military leaders who have run the country since a 1968 coup.

That brash talk was apparently too much for someone in the Panamanian military. When Spadafora tried to enter Panama from Costa Rica, where he had been living, last Sept. 13, he was detained by border guards. The next day his headless torso was found dumped back across the border. Costa Rican police have concluded that Spadafora was murdered in Panama, and members of Panama’s security forces are the prime suspects. Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, the top Panamanian military commander, forced Barletta to resign to distract public attention from the Spadafora case.

Barletta had been Noriega’s handpicked candidate in presidential elections held earlier this year. That vote was largely at the insistence of the Reagan Administration, which would prefer that its allies in Central America be democratic, with governments run by civilians, however weak they may be. In Barletta’s case, the weakness was apparent from the start. When it looked as if he might actually lose the election, the military confiscated the ballot boxes and did all the vote-counting to make sure its man won.

The public anger and dissatisfaction that resulted from the sham election led to rioting by opposition political groups. Now it is feeding the scandal that resulted from Spadafora’s death. Noriega may think he has nipped this scandal in the bud by ousting Barletta, but he has not heard the last about the Spadafora case.