Panama, 1995 — dissident coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 12 January 1995, during the early presidency of Ernesto Perez Balladares of Panama, in the demilitarized post-Noriega state where residual conspiracy and unrest involving former Panama Defense Forces figures and political opposition persisted. Perez Balladares, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party once associated with Noriega, had taken office in September 1994 after winning a close three-way race. By this time Panama had abolished the PDF, replaced it with a police-based Public Force, and, in a constitutional amendment ratified in October 1994, prohibited the creation of any regular military.
His government rehabilitated a number of former Noriega-era officials and pursued free-market reforms, and his January 1995 labor-code reform was protested by dozens of unions and sharply cut his popularity. In this demilitarized setting Panama's coup-coded events of the mid-1990s reflect political tension and alleged conspiracy rather than any actual military takeover, since the country no longer had an army. The 12 January 1995 coding sits in this early-1995 climate of unrest and alleged plotting under Perez Balladares.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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
09501121995
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Perez Balladares governed a demilitarized Panama and completed his term to 1999.
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
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Globe and Mail
Chicago Tribune
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 →