Panama – Page 10

On September 7, 2007, seventeen years after Manuel Noriega’s violent removal from power in Panama, a legal order for his release was issued in Miami; however, to this day, the former Panamanian strongman remains imprisoned in a Florida jail as both France and Panama battle for him to be extradited to their respective countries. While Noriega awaits certain extradition and another trial at age seventy four, the world only distantly remembers his apprehension in 1989 and perhaps more importantly, the blemish it left on U.S. foreign policy throughout Latin America. In December 1989, President George H.W. Bush decided to forcefully remove Manuel Noriega from Panama to stand trial in the United States for drug trafficking and related charges. The intervention was given the name “Operation Just Cause,” a reference to the anticipated success of this exercise in freeing Panamanians from an evil dictator. But in the view of many, the operation not only broke international law, but severely destabilized Panama- an effect the country still feels to this day. President Bush’s decision to intervene with military force in Panama was a direct result of the crisis created by Noriega’s rise to power, largely as a result of Washington’s backing, and the complex and asymmetrical relationship between the two nations.

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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Jessica Wayne.

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