Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
guaranteed full Panamanian control of the canal as of December 31, 1999, as well as a
complete withdrawal of US military forces.
Old Panama and Castilla Del Oro, by CLG Anderson, is a narrative history of the Span-
ish discovery, conquest and settlement of Panama as well as the early efforts to build a
canal.
The Rise & Fall of Noriega
Still feeling triumphant from the recently signed treaty, Panama was unprepared for the
sudden death of Torrijos in a plane crash in 1981. Two years later, Colonel Manuel Anto-
nio Noriega seized the Guardia Nacional, promoted himself to general and made himself
the de facto ruler of Panama. Noriega, a former head of Panama's secret police, a former
CIA operative and a graduate of the School of the Americas, quickly began to consolid-
ate his power. He enlarged the Guardia Nacional, significantly expanded its authority and
renamed it the Panama Defense Forces. He also created a paramilitary 'Dignity Bat-
talion' in every city, town and village, its members armed and ready to inform on any of
their neighbors if they showed less than complete loyalty to the Noriega regime.
Mountains were moved and 25,000 perished in the process. Panama Fever, by Matthew
Parker, makes real the magnitude of building the Panama Canal, documenting the im-
perial vision, and the backbreaking work of the laborers from the West Indies.
Things went from bad to worse in early 1987 when Noriega became the center of an
international scandal. He was publicly accused of involvement in drug trafficking with
Colombian drug cartels, murdering his opponents and rigging elections. Many Panamani-
ans demanded Noriega's dismissal, protesting with general strikes and street demonstra-
tions that resulted in violent clashes with the Panama Defense Forces. In February 1988
Panamanian President Eric Arturo Delvalle attempted to dismiss Noriega, though the
stalwart general held on to the reins of power, deposing Delvalle and forcing him to flee
Panama. Noriega subsequently appointed a substitute president who was more sympath-
etic to his cause.
Noriega's regime became an international embarrassment. In March 1988 the US im-
posed economic sanctions against Panama, ending a preferential trade agreement, freez-
ing Panamanian assets in US banks and refusing to pay canal fees. A few days after the
sanctions were imposed, an unsuccessful military coup prompted Noriega to step up viol-
ent repression of his critics. After Noriega's candidate failed to win the presidential elec-
 
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