General Noriega

A sidebar on the Noriega years is called for. He became military dictator of Panama shortly after Torrijos' death which many believe ocurred in suspicious circumstances. Manuel Antonio Noriega had an impoverished, unhappy childhood. He did receive a military education, however, through help from a benefactor. He ruled the country through puppet presidents, and fear of his secret police tactics held the population at bay.

Resistance to Noriega's regime began to crystalize when he was accused of masterminding the killing and decapitation of former Deputy Health Minister and Nicaraguan guerrilla sympathizer Hugo Spadafora, a heroic and colorful medical doctor. The killing marked the beginning of Noriega's downfall.

The proof of the claim that Panamanians are characterized by nonviolence is shown by the fact that forcing Noriega from power was achieved in precisely that way (with final intervention of the United States). Panamanians from all segments of society took to the streets in the hundreds of thousands, armed with nothing more than white handkerchiefs to demand his ouster. The pressure was tremendous. The Church, student organizations, and countless civic organizations came together under the Cruzada Civilista or Civic Campaign. The banking sector was frozen.

The final straw was the presidential election in May 1989, in which the opponents of the political party he supported won by a landslide. Noriega voided the election. Leaders of the Crusade went to the U.S. Congress to testify until formal drug trafficking charges were lodged. The final outcome, was the U.S. invasion to capture Noriega on December 20, 1989, and Noriega was taken away by U.S. forces as a prisoner of war. Noriega, formerly in the pay of the CIA, had built the Panama Defense Force into a formidable army, used to browbeat the civilian population, but puny in the face of a massive U.S onslaught.

Thousands cheered along the streets at the passing of U.S. forces, but intellectuals and nationalists continue to condemn the action to this day. If the aim was to capture one criminal, why invade an entire country? The issue continues to be debated to this day.