Page 102 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

Therefore, this method was available to them for a limited period of time, insufficient
to tip the scales in their favor. Arias was still the winner. In desperation, they resorted
to coarse and evident violation of the law and the Electoral Code, such as the theft of
Circuit 4-4’s tally sheets (three days after the elections), the goings-on revealed by
ABC’s hooded informant, and the stealing of the San Miguelito votes right before the
Electoral Tribunal itself.

Finally, the Electoral Tribunal gave its seal of approval to the massive
challenge fraud by dismissing all challenges but failing to add the votes previously
44
omitted to the new total. It was only then, 14 days after the elections, that the loser
was announced as the winner in a resolution that the presiding justice of the Electoral
Tribunal could not bring himself to support with his vote, an eloquent though
ineffective testimony to the magnitude and the scope of the fraud.

In closing, we must forcefully denounce the most nefarious of the regime’s
unabashed efforts to win the presidency for Barletta. This is, of course, the
institutionalization of violence as a tool of partisan politics. The “PRD Special
Commando '', whose sole raison d´être was violence, was headed by a middle-level
public servant, Humberto López Tirones, DIGEDECOM Director. Its ranks included –
in addition to the notorious criminals already mentioned– many DIGEDECOM civil
servants’. The Commando acted with the acquiescence and the protection of the
Defense Forces General Staff. They, and the UNADE leaders, bear full responsibility
for the deaths and injuries associated with the fraudulent 1984 electoral process.

We can categorically state that Barletta did not win fair and square!

44 The second round of voting in El Salvador and Ecuador was held the same day as in Panama. In the
case of El Salvador, results were known within 72 hours of the closing of the last precinct. Ecuador,
the winner was announced within 24 hours. In Panama, even though the number of votes cast was
between one half and one fourth of those in the two other Latin American republics, 14 days elapsed
before official results were announced. This clearly points to a fraud. If Barletta had won, the
government would have made much to do about it on May 7.