The Path to War in Panama

Operation JUST CAUSE, the U.S. military intervention in Panama in 1989, resulted from a variety of factors decades in the making. In 1903, the U.S. obtained the right to build and defend a canal across the Isthmus of Panama in exchange for helping the territory obtain independence from Colombia. Starting then, U.S. soldiers, sailors, and marines were stationed in Panama. Periodic U.S. interventions over the next seventy-five years safeguarded the canal and protected American interests. In exchange for American backing, Panamanian leaders rarely impeded U.S. use of the Canal Zone as a base from which to counter revolutionary movements and maintain stability in the region.1

A new treaty, signed in 1977, called for an incremental withdrawal of U.S. military forces and hand over of U.S. facilities beginning in 1979, and a turnover of the canal to Panama in 2000.2 Several headquarters, including U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), U.S. Army, South (USARSO), and later Special Operations Command, South (SOCSOUTH), were located in the Canal Zone. In addition, roughly 50,000 American citizens lived in Panama, including canal workers, U.S. military personnel, and their dependents.3

When Panamanian dictator Brigadier General Omar Torrijos died in 1981, a two-year struggle for power ensued. In 1983, General Manuel Noriega became commander-in-chief of the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), which oversaw all military and law enforcement.4 The PDF also controlled the dominant political party, though Panama’s political institutions were largely superficial.5

Noriega supported the U.S. assistance to the Contras waging unconventional war against the Cuban-backed Sandinista government in Nicaragua, suppressed leftist movements in Panama, and provided intelligence to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).6 However, he violently oppressed political opponents, trafficked drugs, laundered money, sold weapons to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador, and shared U.S. secrets with Cuban and Nicaraguan counterparts.7 Noriega undermined Torrijos’s democratic reforms, dominated Panama’s political system, and controlled the economy.8 Most of the country remained apathetic. The dictator retained a strong base of support after fraudulent elections in 1984, but his opponents were enraged, and loose alliances emerged between dissident groups.9

The following chart shows the escalation of the crisis.