Omar Torrijos (1929-1981) was not only Panama's most famous leader in that country's history but also one of Latin America's best-known figures of the 20th century. He achieved this distinction for one reason--Torrijos, a military man in a small...

Amid much exulting over U.S. pressure to restore "democracy" in Panama, memory has dimmed entirely on the original charges of Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera, the man whom Gen. Manuel Noriega's troops dragged from his house on July 27. When Diaz first denounced Noriega,...

Martin Torrijos, the son of a Panamanian military leader, took office as the country's president Wednesday, promising jobs, better relations with Cuba and a referendum on a proposed $8 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Torrijos said Panamanians should vote to decide the...

Panama blasted away part of a hillside next to the canal on Monday, marking the start of the waterway's biggest expansion since it opened 93 years ago.In the presence of former President Carter, who signed the 1977 treaty that gave Panama control of the waterway,...

Daniel Ortega, who led a Marxist government that spent the 1980s fighting U.S.-backed insurgents, returns to power Wednesday promising to respect free trade and private business and maintain relations with Washington.Yet he will be sworn in as Nicaraguan president in a ceremony attended by some...