Obviously there's an election coming up. We would like it to be free and fair. And a prerequisite of free and fair elections is that you don't beat up opposition candidates or opposition supporters and throw them in jail.

We hope and we've made clear that the forces need to come out. It needs to be full and complete withdrawal. Our position is it needs to be done as soon as possible so that the elections can be free, fair and free of outside influence.

Likewise, free trade does not, as evidenced in CAFTA, mean fair trade.

All indications are that this appears to be a free and fair election. I think that stands in stark contrast to what we saw in Belarus.

We have a system that allows us to manage a free and fair election, free of fraud, free of intimidation, and that's what we delivered on election day, and we're very very proud of it.

We share with the Panamanians a goal of a stable hemisphere that is democratic, secure and prosperous,