cover image Panama: The Whole Story

Panama: The Whole Story

Kevin Buckley. Simon & Schuster, $21.45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-72794-9

In a tense narrative that reads like a spy thriller, Buckley traces Manuel Noriega's ascension to power and his ties to the U.S. government. The book begins with an account of the murder of Noriega opponent Hugo Spadafora in 1985, which set in motion the chain of events culminating in Operation Just Cause in December 1989. Buckley raises questions about the invasion (``the single bloodiest event in Panama's history'') and suggests that very little benefit to either side was accomplished other than the ouster of Noriega. The author describes Noriega's daily life in the ``Dictator's Suite'' at the Metropolitan Correctional Center near Miami and explains how his ``long record of service'' to Washington is in large part responsible for the bizarre legal tangle that threatens to delay his trial indefinitely. A former Newsweek bureau chief in Saigon, Buckley presents a gripping account of Central American-style hubris in action and grievous foreign-policy bungling on the part of the Americans. (June)