El Siglo ("The Century") is a Spanish language daily newspaper published in Panama. It was founded on 9 January 1985 and as of 2010 had the largest circulation of any Panamanian newspaper.[2]
In 1990, after the fall of military ruler Manuel Noriega in the United States invasion of Panama, the paper offered a prize for the best essays that "explain and detail the criminal acts of the deposed tyrant (Noriega) and his followers."[3]
On December 10, 1998, Siglo reporter Carlos Singares was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment for defamation for a 1993 article he had written about former president Ernesto Pérez Balladares, accusing him of helping to move money out of Panama for former military ruler Omar Torrijos.[4]
In May 2000, Attorney General José Antonio Sossa attempted to jail Singares for alleging that he had pressured journalists, but reversed himself after criticism by President Mireya Moscoso; the following month, Sossa did jail Singares for eight days without trial for reporting in an article that Sossa had visited underage prostitutes.[5][6]