He rightly places him within a tradition of radical nationalist military leaders in Latin America, such as Juan Velasco, who ruled Peru in 1968-73, and Panama's Omar Torrijos.

ECONOMIST: Latin American leaders

It is deeply split between technocrat reformists and left-wingers loyal to the memory of Omar Torrijos, an earlier dictator who modernised the country in the 1970s and early 1980s.

ECONOMIST: Panama

The author of an October 1973 cable says that Washington Post reporters are planning to report allegations that Watergate burglar Howard Hunt and others plotted to assassinate the Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

BBC: Why Julian Assange would target Henry Kissinger