Fight Near a Fortress

Panamanian President Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia heard last week that the National Assembly, due to convene on Jan. 2, might oust him from the Presidency, which he seized by "Constitutional" flimflam in 1941. He decided to do something about it. By summary decree he dissolved the Assembly and suspended the Constitution. He also imposed strict censorship and posted mounted police around the hostile National Youth Congress.

Most of his Cabinet resigned while U.S. troops in the heavily fortified Canal Zone were just beginning to hear the echoes of Panama's political fight. Nearly half of the Assemblymen fled to the Tivoli Hotel in the Canal Zone. U.S. Army headquarters announced a "full alert," watched and listened for developments. But none supposed that they would be anything except spectators at another tour de force in Central American politics.

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