Coup Atlas Research Database
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09510081991ConspiracyMilitary coup

Panama, 1991 — military coup conspiracy

Panama (PAN)Central America, AmericasOctober 8, 1991

Event Summary

This entry is coded 8 October 1991, during the period of continued instability and alleged conspiracy in Panama following Colonel Eduardo Herrera Hassan's December 1990 uprising against President Guillermo Endara. Through 1991 the governing ADOC coalition unraveled as Endara, First Vice President Ricardo Arias Calderon, and Second Vice President Guillermo Ford publicly criticized one another; on 8 April 1991 Endara dismissed Arias Calderon's Christian Democrats from the cabinet. Public support for Endara, near 90 percent just after the 1989 US invasion, collapsed toward record lows amid soaring unemployment, rising crime, and drug trafficking, while the newly created police-based Public Force remained unsettled after the Herrera Hassan affair.

The 8 October 1991 coding sits in this post-Herrera-Hassan climate of political fragmentation, security-force instability, and recurring coup rumors against a weakened Endara government, in a country where the large US troop presence made any actual takeover extremely difficult.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Endara remained in office through the instability and served out his term to 1994
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Guillermo Endara (target)
the unraveling ADOC coalition (Arias Calderon, Ford)
the unsettled Public Force after Herrera Hassan

Sources

In early 1991 the ADOC coalition began to unravel as Endara, Arias, and Ford publicly criticized one another, and on 8 April Endara dismissed Arias's Christian Democratic Party from the cabinet.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Guillermo Endara open source ↗
Public support for Endara, which had reached 90 percent shortly after the invasion, sank to a record low of about 13.5 percent by late 1991, reflecting discontent with high unemployment, a slow justice system, and rising crime.
SOURCE REVIEWED Christian Science Monitor: Panama's Endara Faces Widespread Discontent open source ↗
After the Herrera Hassan affair, the Public Force remained unsettled, with Herrera Hassan's successor Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Quezada himself dismissed in October 1990, amid continuing turmoil in the new security force.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Panama Defense Forces open source ↗
Despite recurring alleged coup plots, Endara was expected to serve out his term to 1994, since the presence of about 10,000 US troops along the Panama Canal made any coup attempt virtually impossible to succeed.
SOURCE REVIEWED Christian Science Monitor: Panama's Endara Faces Widespread Discontent open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete plot is precisely dated 8 Oct 1991 in the sources located this session; the coding sits in the post-Herrera-Hassan instability and conspiracy climate of 1991 (ADOC coalition collapse, plunging support, unsettled Public Force). Context with framing. Second of three Panama records in this batch, split by phase from the 5 Dec 1990 uprising.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
09510081991

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Endara remained in office through the instability and served out his term to 1994.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

El Tiempo

“PANAMA REVELATES HITCH PLAN,” October 19, 1991

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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