Us Invasion of Panama

Until the arrival of the Spaniards, Panama was occupied by several Indian groups. Panama was the center of Spains new world commercial system until about 1740. In 1821 Panama declared its independence from Spain and then joined the Columbian union immediately to the south. Before the discovery of gold in California in 1848, the construction of the Panama railroad was negotiated. The US entered a convention that guaranteed Panama would remain neutral and that transit across the isthmus would be restricted. The Spanish had thought of building a canal across Panama but the French were the first to try. The work began in 1880 but by 1898 the privately owned company that was to construct the canal went bankrupt and the work stopped. In 1902, the US congress authorized President Theodore Roosevelt to pay $40 million for the assets of the French company and complete the construction of the canal. The next year the president of Columbia agreed to transfer a piece of land for the canal to the United States but the treaty was rejected by the Columbian senate. Panama proclaimed its independence from Columbia in November 1903. The presence of naval forces off the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Panama deterred a Columbian effort to stop the succession. A treaty between the US and Panama gave the Americans occupation and control of the Panama Canal Zone in perpetuity was signed on November 18, 1903. The treaty granted the US a ten mile wide, ocean to ocean canal zone. The treaty allowed the US to govern the canal and it was opened in August 1914. In the years to come Panamanians became irritate by the presence of the US, although President Roosevelt assured the Panamanians that the US would not run the canal zone as a foreign colony bisecting the small nation in two. But the Panamanians felt that their sovereignty had been imposed upon and the relationship between the US and Panama grew bitter. In an attempt to improve relations between the two countries, several treaties were negotiated. The Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 ended all prior canal treaties between Panama and the US. It abolished the canal zone and gave Panama sovereignty over the canal and the surrounding land. It also gave the US the right to continue to manage and operate the canal. The same year a Neutrality Treaty was signed guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the canal. The treaty stated that after expiration on December 31, 1999 only Panama would operate the canal and no other country would be allowed to maintain military bases inside Panama. However the treaty reserved the right of the United States to use military force to keep the canal open. In May 1968 Arias Madrid was elected President of Panama. Eleven days later he was removed from office by the country's military. The National Guard took control of the government and formed a ruling "junta" led by Col. Omar Torrijos. In 1972 he was given full executive powers for six years. Panama's National Assembly named a new president in 1978 but Torrijos retained control of the National Guard and Political power until his death in an airplane crash in 1981.

General Manuel Noriega became commander of the National Guard in August 1983. He reorganized and enlarged the Guard and renamed it the Panamanian Defense Forces. He extended the influence of the PDF into every aspect of public life in Panama. In May 1984 Nicolas Ardito Barletta, Noriega's chosen candidate became the countries first elected president in sixteen years. Barletta's election came by a small margin, however and many suspected the military influenced the vote. Barletta was removed from office in 1985 when he announced he would investigate the murder of Hugo Spafadora who was a leading critic of Noriega. By 1983 Noriega had effectively asserted control over the government. Panamanian officials raised objections to US support for the Nicaraguan Contras. Panamanians also protested deployment of US advisors to El Salvador, this they said was an infringement of Panama's neutrality. Panama asked the US to limit its military flight to defense of the canal and also refrain from naval maneuvers off Panama's coast while Panama officially positioned itself apart from the US, Noriega maintained close ties to the CIA and the US Defense Intelligence Operations. He served as a back channel go-between for the US and Fidel Castro. He secretly met and sometimes assisted top officials of the Reagan National Security Council, which was mounting its own unlawful effort to assist the Nicaraguan Contras. By Fall 1986, members of Congress were growing increasingly concerned about Panama and Manuel Noriega. In June 1987, a former officer of the PDF Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera alleged publicly that Noriega was responsible for the placing of a bomb aboard Omar Torrijos plane in 1981. He also charged that Noriega had been behind electoral fraud in the May 1984 election, had ordered the murder of the Panamanian dissident Hugo Spafadora and was involved in corruption and drug smuggling.

Noriega was constantly in the news. Accusations of his involvement in drug trafficking were abundant. One of Noriega's former military officers, Roberto Herrera had publicly accused Noriega of helping the Medellin Cartel run drugs and weapons. These accusations appeared in the New York Times and other major publications. Noriega had protected cocaine shipments from Panama to the US, sold chemicals vital to the manufacture of cocaine to the drug cartel, allowed the cartel to set up a cocaine manufacturing lab in Panama, protected money shipments from the US to Panama, provided a safe haven to leaders of the Columbian based cartel after they had ordered the assassination of the Columbian Minister of Justice and accepted $4.6 million in bribes from the cartel to look the other way while it made itself a home in Panama. Witnesses outlined a clear sequence of events. First there had been four cartel drug flights through Panama using Carlton or his private transportation organization. Second there had been Noriega sanctioned drug voyage of a yacht named the "krill" from Panama to Columbia . Third there had been the Noriega sanctioned deliveries of ether and acetone (Ingredients used to make cocaine) to cartel labs, one of which was in Panama. Finally there had been the laundering of money earned in the drug trade. These events spanned for nearly five years. (1981-1986) The US Justice Department filed indictments against Noriega in federal court and soon afterwards the US government imposed a series of economic sanctions. The US sent additional military forces to the canal zone in Panama, recalled its ambassador and encouraged PDF officers to overthrow Noriega. An attempted coup in 1989 failed and led to executions. The US military drew up plans for an invasion which began when a US serviceman died from gunfire outside PDF headquarters on December 16, 1989. Three