to suppress demonstrations. In an image caught on video and played out in news sources around the world, they attacked Billy Ford's car. Ford's bodyguards were shot and killed. Billy Ford attempted to flee as one member of the Dignity Battalions pummeled him repeatedly with a metal pipe. The image of Ford running to safety with his guayabera coated in blood, displayed on the cover of the May 22, 1989, Time magazine, brought worldwide attention to Noriega's regime. The other two presidential candidates were also severely beaten. The leader of the battalions, appointed by Noriega, was Benjamin Colamarco, who would become Minister of Public Works under President Martín Torrijos' administration. Members wore red shirts with the name of the organization printed on them. In a 1989 interview with The New York Times, U.S. general Maxwell R. Thurman said, referring to the Dignity Battalions, "I am looking inward because I have the security responsibility for all Panama therefore I don't want the dingbats blowing their way through the embassy." The nickname also appears in a number of other sources. See also Colectivo (Venezuela) Committees for the Defense of the Revolution References History of Panama