MANUEL NORIEGA'S RULE IN PANAMA

The 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama was the first American use of force since 1945 that was unrelated to the cold war. It was also the first largescale use of American troops abroad since Vietnam and the most violent event in Panamanian history. It ended with the unusual capture of Manuel Antonio Noriega, Panama's head of state, who was then brought to the United States and tried for criminal drug operations. (Sosa, 18)

Manuel Antonio Noriega Morena, born in 1934 in a poor area of Panama City, was able to gain a scholarship to a military school in Lima, Peru. He returned to Panama and was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the Panamanian National Guard. In October 1968, he participated in a coup that overthrew the Arias government and ushered in an era of military rule under Omar Torrijos. Noriega loyally supported Torrijos and became his right hand man. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he became head of Panama's dreaded G2 intelligence service, where he was responsible for dealing with the country's dissidents. (Sosa, 25) By the end of the 1970s, Noriega had earned a reputation as t

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im for drug trafficking and arms smuggling, because they preferred to continue receiving the intelligence information, he was providing them. (Eisner, Noriega, 87) CONFLICT WITH THE UNITED STATES: The Noriega problem began in 1985 as an internal Panamanian affair. Between 1985 and the 1989 U.S. invasion, it went through a series of five mini crises. The Reagan and Bush administrations hoped for and preferred a Panamanian solution, like a coup d'etat, an election that would end Noriega's rule, or a popular uprising of the kind that removed from power dictators such as Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. (Sosa, 98) Both administrations used overt and covert operations to help start popular uprisings and coups and assisted the opposition in the 1989 Panamanian elections. These measures failed, mainly due to underestimation of Noriega's ability to survive, bureaucratic infighting, mixed messages, operating restrictions, and incompetent implementation of policies and plans. (Gilboa, 545) Throughout the confrontation, Noriega felt immune to American reprisals or punishment, due to the mixed signals he got from the U.S. government, with both the CIA and the D.E.A. thanking him for his services i
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Approximate Word count = 1511
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)