Martinelli Guarded by Israeli Agents

President Martinelli’s usual Institutional Protection Service has been supplemented by Israeli security agents since the discovery of a  kidnapping plot against the President a few weeks ago.

Dressed in long-sleeved shirts, pants, shiny shoes and dark glasses, the nine new security experts are in country to train local agents for two weeks, said a Presidency spokesman.  The number of Institutional Protection Service agents guarding the president has also increased to 15.

A source from the Presidential Palace explained that the Israeli agents also submitted several members and heads of the Presidential security  team to a polygraph.  Some did not pass, La Prensa Reports.

In somewhat related news, General Manuel Noriega was rumored to have enjoyed the protection of a retired Mossad counterintelligence specialist, Mike Harari.  Charles Stone, a retired Army colonel who served in Panama from 1982 to 1987, said that Harari arranged for Panamanian counterterrorist commandos to receive training in Israel who served as an elite security detail for the general.