30th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Panama
- Carlos Pérez Morales -
Graphic posted to Venezuelan president Maduro's
twitter account in
commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1989
U.S. invasion of
Panama.
Christmas of 1989 is keenly remembered in Panama
for the
brutal military invasion by the United States.
Twenty-seven
thousand U.S. soldiers, plus 12,000 more who were
stationed at
the 14 U.S. military bases in the former "Canal
Zone" mercilessly
attacked this small Central American republic.
According to the United States, in the words of
its president
George Bush, the reason for the invasion was to
protect "American" lives and overthrow the
government of dictator Manuel
Antonio Noriega. We know that to overthrow the
Noriega
dictatorship, a military invasion of that nature
was not
justified. Only a small military command was
needed to eliminate
Noriega from the Panamanian government.
Other methods could also have been used without
spilling a
single drop of blood. Today we also know that the
invasion, which
caused more than six thousand (6,000) Panamanian
deaths, really
had other aims.
The United States wanted to regain its hegemony
in the region.
Secondly, the invasion had as one of its purposes
the elimination
of the Panama Defence Forces, established by
General Manuel
Antonio Noriega. Thirdly, it was a rehearsal for
the total war
model, without regard for the scope of the
experiment. In it, new
weapons were tested such as: Stealth F-11 bombers,
2,000-pound
bombs, Hellfire missiles, Blackhawk, Apache AH-64
and Cobra
helicopters and missile launchers, A-37 assault
aircraft, 30 mm
rapid-fire cannons and M-16 rifles with infrared
sights.
Another powerful reason is that in January 1990,
it was up to Noriega to appoint the [Panama] Canal
Administrator, as established in the
Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
The attack on Panama began from Ancon Hill
towards the poor
neighbourhood of El Chorrillo. This neighbourhood
was burned down
by the United States military and several thousand
people died,
including women and children. To this day we do
not know how many
people died in that attack, since U.S. soldiers
dragged many
bodies into the old "Canal Zone," where they were
buried in
common graves.
The merciless attack continued in other areas of
the city,
where more than 400 bombs were dropped during the
invasion. The
United States attacked other places that it
considered of utmost
importance in the Republic of Panama. "The country
went bankrupt
and in the following months there were mass
layoffs of public
employees and workers of private companies."
(Ecured, 2009).
The United States government swore in Guillermo
David Endara
Galimany as president of Panama and Ricardo Arias
Calderón as
vice president on one of its military bases in the
former Canal
Zone. President Endara served as the "puppet"
president of the
United States in Panama. He was always at the
service of the
imperial power of the United States, following its
orders. An
immediate consequence of the invasion was the
reinstatement in
power of the oligarchy.
As Latin Americans, we cannot forget this act of
aggression
against Panama carried out by the U.S. empire.
Carlos Pérez Morales is a Puerto Rican
historian.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 32 - December 21, 2019
Article Link:
30th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Panama - Carlos Pérez Morales
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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