Panama City
The son of a former military dictator has been elected president in Panama. Martin Torrijos, 40, swept to victory largely thanks to enthusiastic young voters seeking change and angered by scandals that plagued the administration of Mireya Moscoso. One of Moscoso’s aides was caught with tens of thousands of dollars stashed in her freezer. The charismatic, U.S.-educated Torrijos won by such a huge margin that his rivals conceded before half the votes had been counted. In a jubilant speech, he promised to fight “poverty, corruption, and despair.” Torrijos’ iron-fisted father, Gen. Omar Torrijos, ran the country from 1968 until 1981, when he was killed in a plane crash.
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