Mikesw1234

Thirty years ago, the United States carried out Operation: “Just Cause,” invading the Central American nation of Panama. The goal of the invasion was to depose the dictator general, Manuel Noriega, a corrupt and ruthless strongman who had originally been put in power by the United States in the first place. This is a surprisingly little known US intervention despite its recentness. It was the last time to date (and hopefully ever) that my country invaded a nation within our own hemisphere and yet many of my fellow Millennials have never even heard of it. Therefore, in commemoration of the conflict's 30^th anniversary, I thought I'd do this short little essay.

The history between the United States and Panama is long and complex, but I will do my best to summarize.

In 1903, after failing to reach a sufficient deal with the Colombian government, US President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt recognized Panamanian independence from Colombia and began sending in military assets (most notably a Naval blockade) to aid the locals in their fight for freedom. The Colombians quickly gave up but would end up benefiting greatly from these events in the subsequent decades.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt also began negotiations with French Panamanian “ambassador” Philippe Bunau-Varilla and the French oligarchs who had tried and repeatedly failed for years to build a canal through the land bridge between the two American continents. In late 1903/early 1904, agreements (most notably the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty) were made and the US would take possession of would become known as the Panama Canal Zone (along with all the equipment and infrastructure that the French had already left there). The newly independent nation of Panama itself would officially become a US “protectorate” until 1939 and Roosevelt wasted no time sending in troops to lock down the territory. It should be noted that no actual Panamanians were involved in the making of any of these deals.

After nearly a decade of planning and construction, the import of thousands of cheap laborers (including many Africans who would end up never leaving) and the present day equivalent of over 9.1 billion dollars spent, the Panama Canal officially opened on August 15^th, 1914. There were many issues (such as the supply and flow of water) that would have to be addressed in the coming years but effects on world shipping were felt almost immediately. No longer would a vessel on the coast of one side of the Americas have to travel through the Arctic or all the way around the Southern most tip of the South American continent to reach the coast on the opposite side.

Tensions would quickly begin to fester in the post World War II years however. Even after Panama ceased being a “protectorate” of the US, many Panamanian citizens (with good reason) still saw their government as an elitist (and to a large extent White supremacist) puppet of the North American superpower. Old school apartheid style laws remained in place for years and authoritarian crackdowns were often enacted against political dissent. US troops would also continue to occupy the Canal Zone in mass.

Tensions finally boiled over on “Martyr's Day,” January 9^th, 1964. A series of incidents between anti-US Panamanians and Zonians (pro-US Panamanians, most of them decedents of US workers who helped build the Canal) over where and how to display Panamanian and US flags inside the Canal Zone eventually triggered a protest march by High School students inside Panama City. The march turned violent after the students entered the Zone and a Panamanian flag carried by one of the one of them was torn in a scuffle with Zonians. Much of Panama City and parts of the Canal Zone quickly erupted into chaos, prompting a response from both local police and US troops. When it was all over, approximately 22 Panamanians and 5 US soldiers were dead. The exact figures remain in dispute.

The fallout from this tragedy would play a major role in allowing Omar Torrijos, a Colonel in the Panamanian National Guard, to seize power in a coup de tat in 1968. Despite his brutal takeover, Torrijos began instituting a number of populist reforms and quickly became quite popular among his people.

In 1977, Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter signed an historic treaty that would finally grant Panama sovereign control over the Canal on the grounds that they would guarantee permanent neutrality over its usage. The hand off was to occur at some point before the year 2000. Torrijos was widely seen by the West as a Communist sympathizer (he supported the Castro regime in Cuba and opposed Pinochet's rule in Chile) and many conservative US politicians were enraged by Carter's “appeasement” on this issue. One of the more prominent critics was then Presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan.

In 1981, a few months after after Reagan's inauguration, Omar Torrijos was killed in a suspicious plane crash. In the aftermath, Panamanian Defense Minister and long time CIA asset, General Manuel “Pineapple Face” Noriega, seized control of the country with US support.

At first, the relationship between the Reagan Administration and the new strongman of Panama went well. Noriega began undoing many of Torrijos's Leftist reforms and even allowed the brutal Right-Wing Contra rebels (whom the US was backing against the Left-Wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua at the time) a safe heaven to operate within his country's borders and helped supply them with weapons. Despite (or perhaps BECAUSE of) his drug connections, then CIA director George H.W. Bush would have a number of cordial meetings with the dictator, personally. Noriega's CIA salary would end up increasing exponentially as well.

But before too long, it became clear to the US that things were not going as smoothly as they'd hoped. Right-Wing as Noriega was, he still insisted on pushing for more sovereignty for Panama. He hosted the 1984 Contadora peace talks with a number of other Latin American leaders and joined them in calling for an end to the US interventions in the region. This was a symbolic slap in the face to the Reagan Administration. Noriega also began dealing with Fidel Castro, an ultimate “no-no” for the US. In addition, it was reported that he had taken several CIA shipments of weapons meant for the Contras and given them to his own Defense Forces instead, though was never confirmed.

The death blow of the relationship between the Panamanian strongman and the US came with the public exposure of the Iran-Contra affair. The Reagan Administration quickly did its best to distance itself from the Noriega and would eventually begin to call for his full removal from power. They also began publicly calling out his drug cartel connections. This eventually resulted in Noriega becoming the first ever foreign leader to be indicted in a US court.

A failed coup attempt, probably US backed, would happen in the Spring of 1988. As a result, Noriega became increasingly paranoid and formed the “Dignitary Battalions,” a (mostly) loyal but poorly trained and not well disciplined civilian militia, to bolster the Panamanian Defense Force. US soldiers would often refer to the members of these battalions as “ding bats.”

Panama had been holding democratic elections for it's Presidential office and National Assembly since long before Torrijos' reign though their legitimacy was almost always questioned and true reformers who managed to win would usually end up being quickly deposed by the military. Neither Noriega nor Torrijos before him had ever actually been elected for anything but both made sure that whoever was would bend the knee to their rule.

Even so, the United States backed their puppet candidate, Guillermo Endara, against Noriega's Carlos Duque, in the 1989 Presidential election. The US spent tens of millions of dollars influencing the Panamanian electorate in order to get their desired outcome (and people wonder where present-day Russia gets its ideas from) and it seemed to pay off in exit polls on election day, May 7^th. However, once Noriega realized his candidate would lose, he immediately declared the election forfeit and sent the PDF and Dignitary Battalions to seize all of the ballot boxes. The National Assembly would be dissolved a few months later and mass unrest would grip the country.

Around this time, Kurt Muse, a naïve but well meaning US businessman living in Panama decided to do something about the Noriega regime. He and a few local friends cobbled together some fancy radio equipment smuggled in from the US (with a tiny bit of help from the CIA) and began broadcasting anti government messages across the country. They called themselves “the Voice of Freedom” and gained particular notoriety after taping into and interrupting a live broadcast feed of Noriega himself giving an address.

After a tense game of cat and mouse with the local authorities, Muse would eventually be identified and arrested. His status as a US citizen (as well as a spouse to a US Defense Department official) allowed him to be spared torture and execution, the but regime would keep him detained as a hostage.

Meanwhile, under the command of now President George H.W. Bush, the United States Armed Forces had begun preparing for the possibility of a military intervention. More and more troops would be deployed to US bases in Panama, which only further inflamed tensions. They would also hold more and more provocative drills and exercises, sometimes even in the streets of Panama City itself which was a direct violation of US-Panamanian treaties. In return, the PDF and DBs would hold drills of their own dangerously close to the perimeters of US bases.

A second coup attempt, this time undeniably US backed, occurred on October 3^rd. It was nearly successful and the insurrectionists actually managed to capture Noriega at the Comandancia, the headquarters of the PDF. But US troops were supposed to block a number of key roads to ensure that loyalist forces couldn't rescue their leader. Either by a mistake in communications or a deliberate choice, only some of the key roads were blocked and Noriega would ultimately be freed and the coup put down.

At this point, Noriega and the forces still loyal to him were becoming increasingly unhinged. On December 15^th, the Panamanian General Assembly, still filled with Noriega lackeys, declared a state of war between Panama and the US. The following day, a vehicle carrying four (reportedly unarmed) US military personnel was stopped at a PDF roadblock in Panama City. The PDF ending up opening fire on the vehicle and US Marine Lieutenant Robert Paz was killed. A number of witnesses, both PDF and civilian, claimed that it looked like the vehicle was attempting to run the roadblock, but the US made no attempt to investigate any of those claims. President Bush had clearly already made up his mind by that time and had only been looking for a trigger point. Operation: “Just Cause” was officially a go.

On midnight, December 20^th, 1989, US Air Force and Navy aircraft began softening up Panamanian defenses for the 26,000 strong landing force (many of whom were already stationed at the bases there while the rest would quickly be dropped in by air). 27 key positions across the country were bombed, most of them in or around the capitol of Panama City. Despite US claims that they used “precision guided weapons,” several civilian neighborhoods, most notably the El Chorrillo district in Panama City, were burned to the ground during the bombing.

Kurt Muse was rescued from his prison at Carcel Modelo (right across from the Comandancia) by a team of US Delta Force operators in the opening minutes of the invasion. Just as they were leaving the prison however, one of the Delta Forces' Little Bird helicopters, the one carrying Muse, experienced a sudden mechanical failure. The chopper plummeted down to street level where it was shot by anti-aircraft fire and forced to make a hard emergency landing. A couple of Deltas were seriously wounded, but they, Muse and the pilots all survived the landing and were thankfully rescued by a US armored convoy before the PDF could get to them.

Meanwhile, a team of US Navy SEALs headed over to Punta Paitilla Airport where their mission was to prevent Noriega from escaping by sabotaging his private jet and gunboat, and perhaps even capturing the dictator himself if they encountered him. Noriega was not there but about a dozen of his body guards were, and they were waiting in ambush. The SEALs managed to fight through the ambush and ultimately complete their objectives, but lost four of their own in the process.

Back at the Comandancia, US paratroopers completely surrounded the compound and repeatedly subjected it to heavy weapons fire, setting it completely ablaze. The PDF and DB forces who had rallied there were outnumbered, outgunned and utterly outmatched. They still managed to put up a fight however, killing and wounding a number of US soldiers and even shooting down two helicopters. The situation was hopeless though, and the survivors eventually surrendered. Just about all of the other key US objectives were taken fairly quickly and without much bloodshed. The worst of the fighting was over within the first 24 hours.

Recognized as the legitimate President of Panama, Guillermo Endara was inaugurated from the safety of the US base of Fort Clayton while “Just Cause” was just beginning. Endara had supposedly become hesitant to accept the position, not happy with the invasion despite his previous willingness to be a lackey. But after US officials told him his refusal could bring about an indefinite military occupation, he decided to go through with it.

It should be noted that the new President Endara wasted no time handing a list of reported “troublemakers” to the US Military leaders. Over the next several weeks, thousands of Panamanian citizens, including trade unionists and Left-Wing activists who'd had nothing to do with Noriega would be rounded up by US soldiers and detained. Many of them would never be formally charged with a crime. Some of them would remain in custody for years.

Meanwhile, General Noriega himself took refuge inside the Vatican embassy but was later persuaded to turn himself in. He was taken back the to the US where he was where he was tried and convicted for drug trafficking and later extradited to France where he'd be tried and convicted for money laundering. Great lengths were taken to keep his history with the CIA (and with H.W. Bush) out of the legal proceedings. Despite constant pleas from the Panamanian government, Noriega was never extradited back to Panama to face charges of human rights violations. He died in 2017 at the age of 84.

Operation: “Just Cause” officially ended on January 31^st, 1990, though the subsequent US occupation of Panama, Operation: “Promote Liberty,” would continue until 1994. The invasion was condemned and declared illegal by both by the United Nations and even the Organization of American States, the latter a notoriously pro-US body. Nonetheless the US would face no consequences and the event would serve as precursor to future interventions. The invasion was also a trial run for many new US weapons systems, such the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter, which had absolutely no reason to be used in Panama except for testing purposes. Many of these systems would be used to great effect in Operation: Desert Storm the following year.

The overall death toll of the invasion remains in dispute to this day. The only confirmed figures are 23 US servicemen, 3 US civilians who were living in Panama at the time, and one Spanish photo journalist (Juan Antonio Rodriguez, who's exact cause of death is still contentious). The Pentagon estimates about 200 – 300 Panamanian combatants killed, though some claim the number well exceeds 500 which is certainly plausible given the US forces' extensive use of heavy firepower. The amount of Panamanian civilians killed is another matter entirely.

The Pentagon claimed at the time that 202 Panamanian civilians were killed as a direct result of the invasion, a number that they continue to stand by even now (it should be noted the US forces were very restrictive of civilian press during the course of “Just Cause,” perhaps for this reason). The United Nations estimates around 500, while the Central American Human Rights Commission (which did the most extensive studies) claims that between 2,000 and 3,000 Panamanian civilians were killed. Having seen photographs and video footage of just how bombed out the El Chorrillo district was in the aftermath of the fighting, the latter figures seem the most plausible to me. It's actually pretty messed up that what's still seen by many US citizens and veterans today as a “Just Cause” might in a way be seen as a 9/11 level tragedy to many people in Panama.

On December 31st, 1999, then US President Bill Clinton honored the Carter-Torrijos Treaty and Panama was finally given control of the Canal. In 2019, after several attempts over the previous years, the Panamanian National Assembly finally passed a resolution to make December 20th, the first day of the US Invasion, a National Day of Mourning.

Now to million dollar question. Was Operation: “Just Cause” truly a just cause? General Noriega was undeniably a bad guy who did bad things but he was also enabled by the US for years. Was toppling him worth the death of as many as 3,000 Panamanian civilians? Hell, Colonel Torrijos was no saint either but he undeniably did a lot of good things and is still highly regarded by many people to this day. What would Panama be like right now if he hadn't died in that plane crash?

I gotta say that personally, I'm honestly not sure if it was just myself, especially given the precedent it would set for the current US Forever Wars in the Middle East. Bare in mind this blunder is primarily the fault of the US government and military leadership, (with a fair bit of influence from the good ol' Central Intelligence Agency). I cast no blame on the US servicemen (with the possible exception of a few trigger happy bomber and attack helicopter pilots) who fought and some cases died there. Their sacrifice for their country should not disregard, even if their mission may have been wrong. It could be argued that also goes for the Panamanian Defense Forces and “Dignity Battalions,” who at the end of the day were fighting to defend their own homeland.

Well... that ended up being a pretty freaking long summery, didn't it? If by some miracle I've kept you interested enough to read all the way through, here's some recommended documentaries for you to watch if you want to know more.

The Panama Deception:


Secrets of War: The Invasion of Panama


Combat Zone: Rescue in Panama