Panamanians remember 1989 US invasion and continue to demand justice and accountability

[Judi Lynn]

Dec. 20 is a national day of mourning in Panama in memory of the victims of the 1989 US invasion of the country. At the time, it was the largest invasion since Vietnam and the first after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the US, it was heralded as liberating the country from dictator Manuel Noriega, a former US ally. But in Panama, many saw it as something much different. The victims of the US action are still demanding justice.

The World
December 20, 2023 · 11:30 AM EST
By Michael Fox

In the poor Panama City neighborhood of El Chorrillo, the wounds of the 1989 US invasion are still written on the walls.

“Do you see this? This remains as a memory of the shots fired,” El Chorrillo resident Efrain Guerrero said. He points to the bullet hole left in the wall from the invasion, down the street from his house. Guerrero has dedicated recent years to telling the story of El Chorrillo’s past. “Right here. There was a downed helicopter," he said.

Overnight on Dec. 20, 1989, nearly 30,000 US soldiers attacked positions across Panama. The neighborhood of El Chorrillo was ground zero.

One video, shot by a US soldier during the invasion, shows flames engulfing homes as planes and helicopters fly overhead. El Chorrillo surrounded the main military barracks for the Panama Defense Forces. When US soldiers attacked, they leveled entire city blocks.

. . .

Many were buried in mass graves.

More:
https://theworld.org/stories/2023-12-20/panamanians-remember-1989-us-invasion-and-continue-demand-justice-and

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The Panama Deception

Wikipedia:

The Panama Deception is a 1992 American documentary film, critical of the 1989 United States invasion of Panama.[1]

The film was directed by Barbara Trent, written and edited by David Kasper, and narrated by actress Elizabeth Montgomery. It was a production of the Empowerment Project, and won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Summary
The film recounts the events which led to the invasion, the death and destruction caused by the invasion, and the aftermath. The film is critical of the actions of the United States Armed Forces. It also highlights the media bias within the United States, showing events that were unreported or systematically misreported, including downplaying of the number of civilian casualties.[2] The film also argued that the true purpose of the invasion was to prevent the then-scheduled retrocession of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama as agreed in the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, rather than the stated justification of removing Manuel Noriega from power due to his indictment in U.S. courts on racketeering and drugs trafficking charges. Panama ultimately gained full control over the Canal Zone on December 31, 1999, fulfilling the terms of the Torrijos-Carter agreements.

The film states that the U.S. government invaded Panama in order to destroy the PDF, the Panama Defense Forces, which were perceived as a threat to U.S. control over Panama, and install a government which would be friendly to U.S. interests. The film includes footage of what are claimed to be mass graves uncovered after the American troops had withdrawn and footage of burned-down neighborhoods, refers to the alleged use of experimental weapons including supposed secret laser weapons, and presents depictions of some of the 20,000 refugees who fled the fighting.

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Panama_Deception

[Dorn]

1. Bush Graves' disease -- Presidential medical details must be open

Remember the possibility that Bush's thyroid storm was part of his decision making:

The question of the influence of Bush's hyperthyroid condition on his decison-making, especially his rageful and obsessive decisions to go to war in Panama and the Gulf, could not be avoided even by the pro-regime press. A New York Times article by Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, MD, posed the question, "does an overactive thyroid gland affect mood and judgment?" According to this piece, experts interviewed admitted that they had "wondered about a theoretical link between [Bush's] Graves' disease and his presidential decisions. Most experts believe that people with hyperthyroidism do not make decisions as well as they would normally." "An important question," wrote Altman, "is when Mr. Bush's case of Graves' disease began." One way to shed light on this question would be to test stored blood samples that Bush's doctors would routinely keep. But the Secret Service has a policy of destroying all such specimens for security reasons! According to Dr. Andre Van Herle of UCLA, among patients suffering from hyperthyroidism, "some are not disturbed at all; others are basket cases."

also: https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/21/health/the-doctor-s-world-president-s-thyroid-questions-of-mood.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Whoa! So glad you posted this information. Have never heard a peep about it until a moment ago!

Suddenly I'm reminded of the Orange basketcase, thinking the world dodged the bullet when he seemed to have left the White House once!

Can you imagine what hell he would loosen on any country, including this one?

I really want to let this Bush information settle in today. Have never even considered something like this could happen. Amazing.

I have wondered if his bailing out of a doomed airplane during the war, leaving his comrades to fend for themselves ever haunted him in later life. . .

Thank you, so much, for bringing this forward. It would be greatly interesting to a lot of people who take the time to think a lot!

[Crowman2009]

4. I don't know, Bush Sr. was a warmongering scumbag when he was VP as well.

I really think he was the one making key decisions in central america while that senile old actor pretending to be president just took his word for it.

[GreenWave]

3. So let me see and let me think.

The USA believes all of Latin America is in its inalienable sphere of influence.
It wanted a canal so as not to go around Chile to get to the Pacific.
Nicaragua seemed a logical go to, but that lake had fresh water sharks!
Looking for another shorter route, the USA provoked an insurrection in part of Colombia.
This cleaved the province of Panamá from Colombia.
The USA recognized Panamá as a sovereign nation. (Poor example for other bully nations.)
Time goes by and they decided the puppet Noriega wasn't puppet enough.

[Judi Lynn]

5. It's going to be late in coming when the truth about Noriega is finally acknowledged, far too late!

Google grab:

Noriega worked for CIA
Published May 31, 1991|Updated Oct. 13, 2005

Manuel Noriega fed the CIA secrets on the Panama Canal negotiations and conducted other U.S. intelligence operations and in return was paid at least $300,162, according to a court documents released Thursday. But a 32-page classified document, censored by the Justice Department before being filed by federal prosecutors, said Noriega's own descriptions of his role in U.S. intelligence-gathering were "somewhat overblown."

The former Panamanian dictator has claimed that over the years he was paid about some $11-million by the U.S. government for his spying.

Defense attorneys have said Noriega has a great deal of information about past U.S. government policies, the Reagan administration and President Bush's days as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

. . .

Earlier this month Noriega's attorneys, Frank A. Rubino and Jon A. May, filed a 107-page document that reported a long history of cooperation between Noriega and the CIA. In that document, Noriega's lawyers said the former Panamanian ruler was paid more than $11-million from a CIA slush fund in exchange for overlooking many U.S.-sponsored illegal activities, including drugs-for-guns operations in support of the Contra forces in Nicaragua.

More:
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1991/05/31/noriega-worked-for-cia/

Thanks for your post.