[7][8] The paper was the only media organization to endorse opposition candidate Arnulfo Arias over military leader Manuel Noriega's selection, Ardito Barletta, who was also backed and covertly funded by the United States, in the 1984 presidential election.

[9] In 1986, La Prensa was still the only newspaper publishing reports critical of military leader Manuel Noriega,[10] including protesting the murder of Hugo Spadafora.

When his work visa expired, the Panamanian government refused to renew it, triggering a storm of criticism from international press NGOs and domestic opposition parties.

[18] In 1998, La Prensa and other Panamanian papers reported that the construction of a new National Assembly building had been tainted by graft, and that a representative of the US corporation HNTB had distributed US$5 million in bribes to secure the project.

[8] In March of the same year, Pérez Balladares' former foreign minister, Ricardo Alberto Arias, forced out Gorriti and was elected the paper's new president by a majority of shareholders.

[24] In 2012, La Prensa published a series of investigative reports of Transcaribe Trading Company, one of the country's largest construction firms, alleging that it had made millions off favorable contracts with the government.