Panama War

First Person Account of The Invasion of Panama 1989

Media Burn Founder Tom Weinberg introduces a piece on Videomaker Andrew Jones and his first person account of a dangerous venture into the heart of a war zone during the U.S. invasion of Panama in December of 1989.  To watch the full piece as it aired on Image Union, at Media Burn, click here:  http://www.mediaburn.org/Video-Preview.128.0.html?&uid=5062

The United States long maintained numerous military bases and a substantial garrison throughout the Canal Zone to protect the American owned Panama Canal. On September 7, 1977, President of the United States Jimmy Carter and the de facto leader of Panama General Omar Torrijos signed Torrijos–Carter Treaties, which set in motion the process of handing over the Panama Canal to Panamanian control by the year 2000. Although the canal was destined for Panamanian administration, the military bases remained and one condition of the transfer was that the canal would remain open for American shipping.

Meanwhile, the U.S. had long standing relations with General Noriega. Noriega served as a U.S. intelligence asset and paid informant of the Central Intelligence Agency since 1967, including when Bush was head of the CIA (1976–77).

Noriega had sided with the U.S. rather than the USSR in Central America, notably in sabotaging the forces of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and the revolutionaries of the FMLN group in El Salvador. Noriega received upwards of $100,000 per year from the 1960s until the 1980s, when his salary was increased to $200,000 per year, for his loyalty and efforts against the much better-funded, Soviet-backed groups.   Although he worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration to restrict illegal drug shipments, he was known to simultaneously accept significant financial support from drug dealers, because he facilitated the laundering of drug money, and through Noriega they received protection from DEA investigations due to his special relationship with the CIA.

However, beginning in the middle of the 1980s, relations between Noriega and the United States started to deteriorate. Beginning in 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan negotiated with General Noriega, requesting that the Panamanian leader peacefully step down after Noriega was publicly exposed in the New York Times by Seymour Hersh, and later exposed in the Iran-Contra Scandal.   Reagan pressured him with several drug-related indictments in U.S. courts; however, since extradition laws between Panama and the U.S. were weak, Noriega deemed this threat incredible and did not bend to Reagan’s efforts.   In 1988, Elliot Abrams and members of the Pentagon began pushing for a U.S. invasion, but Reagan refused, due to Bush’s ties to Noriega through his previous positions with the CIA and the Task Force on Drugs, and their negative impact on Bush’s presidential campaign.   Later negotiations involved dropping the drug-trafficking indictments. In March 1988, an attempted coup against the government of Panama was resisted by Noriega’s forces. As relations continued to deteriorate, Noriega appeared to shift his Cold War allegiance towards the Soviet bloc, soliciting and receiving military aid from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Libya.   American military planners began preparing contingency plans for action against Panama.

In May 1989, during the Panamanian national elections, an alliance of parties opposed to the military dictatorship of Noriega counted results from the country’s election precincts before they were sent to the district centers. Their tally showed their candidate, Guillermo Endara, defeating Carlos Duque, candidate of a pro-Noriega coalition, by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. Endara was beaten up by Noriega supporters the next day in his motorcade.   Noriega declared the election null and maintained power by force, making him unpopular among Panamanians. Noriega’s government insisted that it had won the presidential election and that irregularities had been on the part of U.S.-backed candidates from opposition parties.   Bush called on Noriega to honor the will of the Panamanian people.

A US Marine Corps LAV-25 in Panama

As tensions continued to escalate, the United States reinforced its Canal Zone garrison, and increased the tempo of training operations and other activities intended to put pressure on Noriega.

In October 1989, Noriega foiled a second coup attempt by members of the PDF, led by Major Moisés Giroldi.   Pressure mounted on Bush as the media labeled him a “wimp” for failing to aid Panama in spite of campaign rhetoric that called for a tough stand against known drug traffickers.   Bush declared that the U.S. would not negotiate with a known drug trafficker and denied having any knowledge of Noriega’s involvement with the drug trade prior to his February 1988 indictment, although Bush had met with Noriega while Director of the CIA and had been the Chair of the Task Force on Drugs while Vice President.

On December 15, the Panamanian general assembly passed a resolution declaring that the actions of the United States had caused a state of war to exist between Panama and the United States.

The sense of crisis was greatly intensified by an incident the next day. Four U.S. military personnel were stopped at a roadblock around 9:00 PM outside PDF headquarters in the El Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City. The four officers were Marine Captain Richard E. Hadded, Navy Lieutenant Michael J. Wilson, Army Captain Barry L. Rainwater, and Marine First Lietenant Robert Paz. The four officers had left the Fort Clayton military base and were on their way to have dinner at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Panama City. The U.S. Department of Defense reported that the servicemen had been unarmed and in a private vehicle and that they attempted to flee the scene only after their vehicle was surrounded by an angry crowd of civilians and PDF troops. Later the PDF asserted that the Americans were armed and on a reconnaissance mission. The PDF opened fire on the four officers as they attempted to flee the angry mob. Lieutenant Paz was fatally wounded by a round that entered the rear of the vehicle and struck him in the back. Captain Hadded, the driver of the vehicle, was also wounded in the foot. Paz was rushed to Gorgas Army Hospital but died of his wounds. He received the Purple heart posthumously.

According to U.S. military sources, a U.S. naval officer and his wife witnessed the incident and were subsequently detained by Panamanian Defense Force soldiers. While in police custody were assaulted by the PDF. The US naval officer spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from his beating. His wife was not injured but was sexually threatened by PDF soldiers.

The next day, President Bush ordered the execution of the Panama invasion plan; the military set H-Hour as 0100 on December 20.