Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
especially Nicaragua. Whereas Torrijos had supported the leftist Sandinistas in Nicaragua's
civil war, Noriega allegedly became an important figure in covert US military support for the
Contras, helping to funnel money and weapons to the guerrilla force - a charge he denies.
Noriega was also busy building his relations with the Colombian cocaine cartels in Medellín.
Although this extracurricular activity was ignored by the US for years, in 1986 the
Iran-
Contra Affair
- in which the US government sold weapons illicitly to Iran and used the pro-
ceeds to fund the Contras - brought an unwelcome glare of publicity on the cosy arrangement
between Noriega and the CIA. Deciding it was politically expedient to drive Noriega from
power, the US government began economic sanctions in 1987, followed by Noriega's indict-
ment on drug charges in the US in February 1988.
On December 20, 1989, US President George H.W. Bush launched the ironically named
“
Operation Just Cause
”, and 27,000 US troops invaded Panama. They quickly overcame
the minimal organized resistance offered by the PDF. Bombers, helicopter gunships and even
untested stealth aircraft were used against an enemy with no air defences, and hundreds of
explosions were recorded in the first twelve hours. The poor Panama City barrio of El Chor-
rillo was heavily bombed and burned to the ground, leaving some 15,000 homeless; indeed,
a Human Rights Watch report noted that civilian deaths were over four times higher than
military casualties among the PDF. Noriega himself evaded capture and took refuge in the
papal nunciature, before being forced to surrender on January 5 after a round-the-clock diet
of ear-splitting heavy metal and rock music blasted from the car park. He was taken to the
US,
convicted of drug trafficking
and sentenced to forty years in a Miami jail before being
extradited to France to face trial on money-laundering charges.
Estimates of the number of Panamanians killed during the invasion vary from several hun-
dred to as many as ten thousand. That the invasion was
illegal
, however, was clear: it was
condemned as a violation of international law by the United Nations and the Organisation of
American States, both of which demanded the immediate withdrawal of US forces. Despite
most Panamanians being relieved to see the back of Noriega, they were outraged at the ex-
cessive use of force and America's blatant disregard for Panamanian sovereignty.
