The downfall of Noriega, Panama's strong man: 2009

The downfall of Panama’s strongman

Manuel Antonio Noriega

Terry Walker, November 2009

They call it their dry season, but with a temperature of 96 degrees F (36 C) in the shade on the beach and perspiration dripping onto my book what else was I to do but move out of the sun to the beach bar. It’s 2 pm this afternoon here at a beach resort in Panama.

With my broken Spanish and his better English I struck up a light conversation with my bar mate Luis. A light plane droned over head obviously ready to land. He said there was an airstrip just inland and these were private planes or air taxis moving the gentry to their weekend retreats. I slowly deepened the conversation by asking about the US invasion 20 years ago.

It was soon evident that this had been a dark period in Panama’s history and Luis had witnessed first hand the maelstrom and devastation of Operation Just Cause as US Forces using missiles and artillery took out the Command Centre of the Panamanian Defense Force (PDF) on 20 December 1989, in the Chorillo district barrio in Panama City where he lived. Some of the ordinance fell short, others over shot their targets causing mayhem and a major loss of civilian life as buildings and houses in the slums around the Command Centre were destroyed. Days of looting and vandalism by thieves and wandering members of the PDF plus no food deliveries into the City ruined everyone’s Christmas and New Year 20 years ago. Luis also said that the whole area here was once a main army base for the PDF called Rio Hato, named after the river that flows into the Pacific Ocean two mile to the west of where we were sitting. He mentioned that General Noriega’s beach house, built on this base, was still standing not 500 yds down the beach to our east. Other Panamanian people I spoke with added stories of Noriega’s escape from his beach house dressed in a nun’s habit in which he made it back to Panama City. They spoke in hushed voices about the use of the Isla Farillón two miles off shore from us as an execution site during Noriega’s reign of terror. Now recognized by the large cross placed on the Island in memory of those who were tortured and perished. There were also stories of the US forces parachuting in at the dead of night to take this main base of the PDF.

I took an ATV ride through the area once the Rio Hato PDF base but there is not a lot left of it. Some buildings now house the equipment used to maintain the excellent golf course on the Decameron property. I drove down the runway of the airfield, there was no control tower or anyone about and across the Pan American Highway that still crosses this active runway!!, north into the African type bush passing okra plantations, Brahma bull ranches, elephant grass stands plus wind and rain eroded rocks and even an unexploded 4 inch mortar round stuck in hard mud.

I had remembered the events of late 1989 from TV in the comfort of my home and was intrigued to be in Panama at the site of a major objective of the US forces. I took some photographs and returned home to search the Web. What follows is my synthesis of the verbal and written information I have received or gathered from various sources.

The country of Panama in Central America joins Costa Rica to its north west with Colombia in South America at its south east and runs generally from east to west between latitudes 7 and 9 degrees north of the equator for some 450 miles. It is 150 miles wide at the borders with its two neighbours and 50 miles wide in the middle at the Canal. It has a hot and humid climate year round, especially during the rainy season, from April to October. The fresh water falling daily on its rain forests keeps the locks of the canal working joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

From the Spanish conquest though the era of Simon Bolivar in the early 1800s, the Isthmus of Panama had always been a province of Colombia. When in late 1903 Panama unilaterally declared to separate politically from Colombia it was a fait accompli due largely to the dense jungle and mountains of northern Colombia and the US navy deployed in the area. Earlier, the US government had watched as a French consortium trying to build a lock-free Panama Canal went bankrupt after some 25,000 workers had died in the attempt. It is not surprising the Consortium went bankrupt when you consider that today ships are some 80 feet above sea level as they transit the canal. The French had excavated a lot of rock but would have had a whole lot more to dig out to finish a canal without locks. By 1893 the French had abandoned work on the canal and in 1905 the US bought out the French Consortium’s assets for $15 million. The US Army Corps of Engineers finished the canal by 1914, two years ahead of schedule which made it available to the US when she joined the allies in World War 1. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of workers who died did so from tropical diseases whose mode of action was found and treatment regimes available by the time the US began their work. This was one of the main reasons the French Consortium’s efforts were slowed and in the end they could not recruit competent engineers because of their fear of contracting killer tropical diseases.

The US owned Panama Canal Company ran the Canal’s operations to the end of the 20^th century. It takes some 7,500 miles off the boat trip from San Francisco to New York and so Panama and the security of free passage through the Canal have always and continue to be an active policy file of the US government. Some hold that in contravention of the Terms of the Panama Canal Agreement, the US built and maintained to the end of the life of that Agreement, the Howard Air Force base located just four miles from downtown Panama and under the western end of the Bridge of the Americas, the start of the Pan American Highway to the north over the Canal.

On February 11, 1934 in a barrio in Panama City, Manuel Antonio Noriega was born allegedly out of a tryst between an accountant and his seamstress. At the age of five, he was adopted by a schoolteacher and went on to excel at school. While a lack of money prevented him from following his dream of becoming a doctor, he won a scholarship to the Peruvian Military Academy graduating in 1962 with a degree in engineering. He returned to Panama, accepted a commission as a sub-lieutenant in the Panamanian Army, and was assigned to a unit in the City of Colon, at the Caribbean end of the Canal.

Noriega’s dedication to duty and his competency as a soldier soon got him promoted which in turn brought him to the attention of then Brigadier General Omar Torrijos, who in 1966 placed Noriega in command of the Army in Chiriquí Province. This western most province of Panama runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans adjacent to the country of Costa Rica. Here Noriega conducted a ruthless campaign against the peasant guerillas who were trying to resist the Government. In 1968, the now General Torrijos staged a successful military coup and Noriega sided with him. His troops seized the radio and TV stations in David, the capital city of Chiriquí Province, disrupting the ability of the opposition to communicate. In 1969, with General Torrijos out of the country, some senior officers staged an attempted coup against him. General Torrijos contacted Noriega who took a number of vehicles to the David airport (it had no runways lights) and lined them up down the runway allowing Torrijo’s airplane to land safely at night by the aid of the vehicles’ headlights. With the assistance of the troops under Noriega’s command, General Torrijos retook Panama City and Noriega’s star really began to shine. Around this time the CIA is alleged to have recruited Noriega. This may be true and there is also the suggestion that he was paid much less when originally recruited by the CIA six years earlier to spy on other nationals from around Latin America who were his cohorts at university in Peru. During this period Noriega took various advanced courses given in the USA by the US Army while continuing to be promoted back home. In 1975, General Torrijos made him head of Military Intelligence (Secret Service) in Panama. This was really lift-off time for the now Lieutenant Colonel Noriega.

As early as the 1940s the Panamanian National Guard had been implicated in drug trafficking and when Noriega became head of Military Intelligence he also became the main man in Panama. During this period he was also seen as the ever faithful and trusted servant of General Torrijos. Noriega’s agents brooked no criticism of the General from anyone.

In 1981 the airplane carrying General Torrijos exploded killing all on board and in the subsequent two years of jockeying for power, Lieutenant Colonel Noriega emerged triumphant and declared himself General Noriega.

In 1983 he amalgamated all the “forces” within the Panamanian public service into the Panamanian Defense Force (PDF) which he led. This included the army, navy, air force, the National Guard, the police, immigration control and all others who carried arms in the name of Panama. His men were ruthless in their dealings with anyone who was foolish enough to identify Noriega as being involved in any illegal activities, drugs or otherwise to the extent that many simply disappeared. During this period it is estimated that $10 million US a month was paid by the Medellin drug cartel to the PDF to facilitate the shipment of cocaine across Panama. The machinations that became the Iran-Contra affair were also happening during this period in this part of the world but that is another story.

Throughout the 1980s Noriega lived the very good life as the head of the PDF (he was never President) and the main man behind a number of puppet Presidents of Panama. We can trace his downfall at the end of that decade to a number of events and perhaps beginning with a Dr. Hugo Spadafora. By the early 1980s he had become very much an anti-communist as he watched communism spread through Central America and Africa. He was a respected member of a well known Panamanian family. He has been characterized as a gadfly by some but from my readings I find this to be specious. He had abandoned his medical practice to become a successful and respected guerilla leader in Central America and Africa against the corrupt regimes of the day. He also had the public support of the US government in his bid to oppose Noriega politically and lead Panama. In September 1985 in New York, he severely criticized General Noriega in public even suggesting that Noriega had a hand in the death of President Torrijos. Dr. Spadafora shortly thereafter flew to Costa Rica, took a taxi to the border, walked across into Panama and took a bus to Panama City. While family members awaited his arrival in Panama City, he never arrived. Eye witnesses said he was taken off the bus by the PDF shortly after the bus left on its journey. Wire tap evidence presented later suggests that Major Luis Córdoba in charge of the PDF in Chiriquí Province had telephoned General Noriega who was on business in Paris, France (the French Government still want him to face money laundering charges) and allegedly said (or words to this effect) “We have the rabid dog” Noriega’s reply was “What do you do with a dog that has rabies?” The very next day the trussed body of Dr. Spadafora was found upside down wrapped in a US postal service bag with his legs sticking out of a swamp on the Costa Rican side of the border. He had been severely tortured and decapitated. There were huge demonstrations throughout Panama when this news spread with an estimated 80,000 people at Dr. Spadafora’s funeral in Chitre City. But again nothing immediately happened. The Panamanian President of the day, Barletta was asked during a visit to New York, “Do you intend to investigate this death” to which he replied “Yes”. Upon Barletta’s return to Panama he was made to step down. Barletta however had been a former student of the then US, Secretary of State, George Schultz, when the latter had taught at the University of Chicago. Further more Secretary of State Schultz had been asked by Noriega if he approved of Barletta becoming President of Panama before he was given that Office and Schultz very much concurred. His removal from office was a black eye for the US albeit out of the public’s view but certainly not forgotten by the Administration. Yet another dumb move added to the list on Noriega’s slate.

In 1987 there was a power struggle between General Noriega and his second-in-command, Colonel Roberto Diaz. Diaz lost and was forced to resign. He then denounced Noriega as a narcotrafficker, implicated him in the deaths of General Torrijos and Dr. Hugo Spadafora, and stated that Noriega had also stolen the 1984 election. This created a storm of protests across Panama with Marshall law being declared, but all this did was to get Diaz arrested even though the Catholic Church had placed a priest in Diaz’s home throughout the turmoil. Diaz was fortunate in that his supporters were many and powerful, he was later exiled to Venezuela.

These were very clear messages to others who had also toyed with the idea of publicly denouncing General Noriega, that they would be severely dealt with should they choose to follow a similar path.

These three events turned out to be pivotal in the fortunes of Manual Antonio Noriega since they triggered the beginning of his end.

Contingency planning to convert policy thoughts into reality is a constant activity for those working in certain sensitive services of any government. The US is no exception. In the mid-1980s, contingency planning under the codename Blue Spoon began and if implemented, would see General Noriega removed from office. Due to the murderous events described above, Blue Spoon was renamed Operation Just Cause in 1987. There followed numerous military exercise involving many different parts of the US armed forces as this contingency plan was fine tuned, especially throughout 1989. Clearly the US was preparing for Noriega to take an act of aggression against the US so that the Spanish speaking countries of the Americas would accept quick US military action to remove him from power.

Throughout the 1980s Noriega had busied himself in many aspects of Panamanian life from his position as the power behind each puppet President. Always working to ensure that all elections went his way and as it happened, much to the annoyance of the US. He was also implicated in a variety of actions including the selling of intelligence to Cuba, selling sensitive technical equipment to eastern European countries, selling weapons to the guerillas (Contras) in Nicaragua and in El Salvador. As well continuing to act in an unacceptable manner against his own people especially those whom the US openly supported. He was further accused of selling intelligence to the Nicaraguan government and he took no action to prevent the Medellin cartel from continuing to transship drugs through Panama.

Even so with all this, Noriega was still seen by the US as an asset and he remained the kingmaker in Panama essentially unfettered. In February 1988 however, his indictment by a Miami Grand Jury on a dozen drug trafficking charges appears to have been the last straw for the US Government. Throughout this period selected parts of the US armed forces continued to practice their crafts which by the fall of 1989 include many live fire exercises. There was much talk within the ranks about going into Panama. In early December 1989 both the US forces personnel based at Howard Air Force base, Panama and the US civilian personnel operating the Canal were still able to move freely about Panama but tensions were building and the situation continued to deteriorate. An unarmed marine returning from dinner in Panama City was shot and killed. The PDF machine gunned a car with US occupants, and then a US diplomat and his wife were pulled from their car and threatened by the PDF. Then on December 15, 1989 the Panamanian legislature, itself a Noriega puppet, declared that a state of war existed between Panama and the US.

Noriega was furious even he foresaw the next step by the US and tried very hard to clarify this statement but no one in the US Government was listening. The horse was out of the stable. US President George Bush (Senior) seized on this and authorized the implementation of Operation Just Cause (OJC) to begin at 1 am, December 20, 1989.

Primed through all their practicing over the past two years the US forces were very much ready to act when they got the word OJC was a go.

In total the US deployed some 27,000 troops to Panama to carry out OJC over several weeks. The main fighting force sent in on December 20, 1989 to subdue the PDF was almost the full Regiment of US Rangers comprising the 1/75 and 2/75 and some of the 3/75 Battalions, as well as the 101^st Airborne to support the Rangers as the latter moved forward. Special Services forces including Seals operating from Howard Air Force base in Panama as well as helicopter and C130 gunships, here gaining the title “Puff the Magic Dragon” with their apocalyptic drenching firepower from gatling type guns were all involved.

After assembling from all over the US at Lawson Air Base, part of Fort Benning, Georgia some 1,500 Rangers of the 1/75, 2/75 and 3/75 Battalions were soaked and cold and wet from the rain that had fallen on them and their tent city all day as they drew and packed their supplies in cramped conditions. Covered with blankets to try to keep warm, they shuffled as best they could with their 100 pounds plus of weapons, ammunition and explosives onto their C130 transport planes and departed in the early evening of December 19, 2007 for the seven and one half hour trip to Panama. 20 Turboprop C130 airplanes took off in line from Lawson where veteran eyewitnesses marveled that they had never seen that number of airplanes in one place since Nam.

Meanwhile, as part of a tightly coordinated plan, two F117A stealth fighters were being armed with 2,000 lb stun bombs at there base in Colorado. Their objective was to disorientate the forces at Rio Hato but not kill them. This bombing was to be followed by C130s and helicopter gunships raking the area with all this ending just before the C130 transport planes arrived with their load of paratroops followed by the landing of ground forces.

Navy Seals were deployed to Panama City harbor to attach demolition charges under the Noriega’s yacht in case he tried to make a run for it by sea. With all the US preparations going on throughout 1989, some of the Rangers had even been carryings beepers since March with a two hour reporting deadline. It is hardly surprising that the PDF learned about OJC. Some believe that loose-speak gave the PDF exact information on the time and date of the start of OJC since it was later established that live anti-aircraft and regular ammunition was passed out to the PDF troops on the afternoon of December 19 and used to shoot at the incoming C130s transport planes parachute dropping the Rangers.

There were five objectives to the US war in Panama: to protect U.S. lives and facilities. To capture and deliver Noriega to a competent authority. To neutralize PDF forces, their command and center of control. To Support the establishment of a U.S. supported regime government in Panama. And finally, to restructure the PDF.

The US knew that the PDF had main bases at both the Torrijos–Tocumen airport next to the civilian airport in Panama City and at Rio Hato some 80 miles west of the Canal on the Pacific Ocean. For over 30 years the US had been helping build the PDF and Rio Hato was a major base on which General Noriega and other privileged members of his entourage had summer homes. This Base was home to the 6^th and 7^th Motorized Infantry Companies of the PDF, a total of some 500 troops referred to as Montes de Macho (Panamanian Special Forces). General Noriega had long favored them and as a consequence they were his avid supporters. The Rio Hato base was also a major training facility for new recruits. Both these bases were the first to be neutralized.

As the Ranger filled C130s from Lawson swung in from the ocean passing close to Farillon Island, they could see the surf and the lighted villages strung along the coast line. Two huge flashes of light from the concussion bombs dropped by the F117A stealth fighters filled the sky after which all the lights on the ground went out. C130s and Apache helicopter gunships began raking the ground with their murderous firepower and retired as the C130s carrying the Rangers of the 1/75 and 2/75 and 3/75 Battalions and who were still met by intense anti-aircraft fire from Rio Hato scoring many hits on their aircraft but only a few of the troops on-board were injured.

Inside these darkened C130s, Rangers with their anchor lines hooked up, most resting on one knee to ease the load of his gear, some reciting the Ranger Creed with just the red “wait-jump” light illuminating their sweating bodies and camouflaged Rangers’ faces, the jump masters looked out the now open jump doors. Through these doors poured hot humid air. Everyone waited for the jump lights to turn green. When they did, out the door they went with their 100 pound plus gear, slung beneath them from a height of 450 feet into a maze of green and red tracer fire. Parachutes were sucked out of their packs and inflated by the 130 mph lateral wind and down they came. The normal jump height is 1,200 feet but when jumping into a hot zone the height is markedly reduced which means there is no time to deploy a secondary chute. Some twenty three Rangers were very seriously injured with back, pelvis and leg breaks from this low jump. Rangers landed all over the Rio Hato base, some on the runway, some in the jungle, some north of the Trans America Highway which crosses the runway, while others landed near the buildings on the west side which housed the PDF forces. From the devastation to the buildings it was obvious that the gun ships had savaged the place ahead of the Rangers arrival. Stiff fighting went on for several hours as the Rangers cleared gun emplacement sites and then room by room taking out or capturing the PDF forces they encountered. Many of the latter withdrew into the tall grasses and trees of the jungle surrounding the base. These PDF members continued to harass the Rangers over the next few nights. However, helicopter gunships with night vision glasses progressively reduced their numbers each night. It was said that “while you can run from these gunships you only die tired”. Most of the PDF cadets surrendered.

The first objective for the Rangers of 1^st Platoon C-2/75 Battalion was the taking of Noriega’s summer house and arresting anyone they found. Immediately after landing they made their way to that house on the beach and met no resistance. They opened the steel reinforced front gate using a single use 66 mm Light Anti-Tank Weapon and then threw in a bag charge that blew out the windows to incapacitate anyone in the house as well as opening up the Rangers’ field of view. All they found were cigarettes smoldering in the ash trays, hot food and cold beer on the table, but no sign of Noriega or anyone else. They were covered during this operation by other members of 3^rd Platoon C-2/75 Battalion positioned on the headland to the east overlooking the house and where they found gear abandoned by the Montes de Macho. Again no contact was made with the enemy.

As the assault continued during the small hours of December 20, 1989, Senor Guillermo Endara, who had seen his landslide win in the election for President of Panama in May 1989 nullified by General Noriega, was sworn in as President of Panama and immediately asked the US for assistance in stabilizing his country.

Stupid things happened at Rio Hato during those early morning hours of December 20.

The female occupant of a car leaned out of its window and began firing an Uzi sub-machine gun at a group of Rangers. The car literally disintegrated when engaged.

The occupants of a truck firing light automatic weapons ran at a group of Rangers who used a LAW to stop the truck. A mixed gender group was found inside the truck with a small child. Only the driver survived to claim he was on the way to help put out a fire on the Base but could not explain the three RPG’s (Rocket Propelled Grenades) in his trunk.

The motorized infantry of the PDF at Rio Hato were equipped with armored personnel carriers. Three of these vehicles were heard moving about in the early hours but could not be seen. However, someone had failed to turn off the yellow rotating lights on top of these vehicles. These trucks were still burning when the sun came up.

A group of what can only be described as drunken fools in a truck kept charging toward and then backing off from a Rangers’ road block, laughing. When ordered to stop, they refused. A LAW’s put a tragic end to their fun.

Drivers of vehicles on the Pan America Highway that crosses the middle of the runway at Rio Hato and which had been blocked by US forces, continued to argue and tried to go around the US road block as C130s were landing with supplies.

This is not to belittle the resistance which some of the PDF put up but shows some of the silliness that led to the needless loss of life.

The Rio Hato base was considered secure just after dawn on the 20^th December 1989 and with all the junk and vehicles used by the PDF to block the runway having been moved to the side, other C130s began delivering vehicles and supplies. In fact medics stated they were still removing Rangers who had been injured in the para-drop when the wings of C130 transport planes with their wheels on the ground passed over their heads.

If you listen to the people who today live near this former beach house of Noriega they will insist that he was there when the paratroopers landed and ran across the street to the house of the sisters of Santa Maria del Mar and escaped in nun’s robes as the Rangers came in from the beach. There is some support for this belief since General Noriega was scheduled to dedicate a new clinic at the Rio Hato base on December 20. However, it is now known that one of the vehicles that fled from warning shots at Torrijos-Tocumen Airport Base contained Manuel Noriega who had been visiting the Ceréme Military Recreation Center located within that complex. He had trouble getting back into the City since the Rangers held the main bridge from the airport. In either case it is only 30 minutes by helicopter across the Bay of Panama from the City to the Rio Hato base, so he could have easily slept on the Torrijos-Tocumen Airport Base before leaving to dedicate a new clinic at Rio Hato. Evidence now indicates his escape dressed in nuns clothing is untrue but never the less, it is now part of the local folklore.

At the Torrijos-Tocumen Airport, Rangers clearing the terminal buildings unexpectedly came across some 400 civilians huddled in the Arrivals lounge. They had just landed on civilian airplanes prior to the assault. All were evacuated safely.

The US forces took out the main headquarters’ building of the PDF in downtown Panama during the early hours of December 20, 1989 and then continued sweeping the streets and apartment looking for PDF soldiers for the next number of days. The US forces immediately upon landing had surrounded the various embassies in which they thought Noriega might seek sanctuary but they had not covered the Vatican Embassy residence where Noriega and his heavily armed entourage arrived mid-afternoon on Christmas Day.

It is said that Noriega had stayed for short periods in some 20 house of sympathizer in Panama City over the 5 days he was on the run.

US Lieutenant General Marc Cisneros was placed in charge of negotiations with the Papal Nuncio in Panama City. He was concerned that their conversations which were always held at the Embassy’s front gate might be picked up by journalists. Some say he ordered loud music to be played constantly to prevent this. Others say it was the spooks that order it. Either way, Van Halen’s version of the song Panama, which even to my ears is harsh never mind to a Latin’s, was played over and over at a high volume from large speakers placed around the Embassy. This continued until the Vatican prevailed upon President Bush and General Cisneros was told to find another way of preventing any eavesdropping.

Military actions still continued throughout the country. At Penonomé, the capital of Coclé Province about three hours west of Panama City and under white flag conditions, the commander of the PDF forces holed up there was taken on December 24 on the 45 minutes drive east by road to the Rio Hato base. There he was given a live demonstration of armageddon courtesy of a C130 gunship to next be used on his troops.

Returning to his command at Penonomé he was successful in convincing his forces to surrender without further loss of life. One wonders when walking the Wednesday market there how many of the merchants and shoppers owe their lives to his wise decision.

In Panama City, US Lieutenant General Marc Cisneros, fluent in the Spanish language, and while continuing to negotiate the surrender of General Noriega made history in what became known as “the Ma Bell approach to warfare”. He was convinced that given the chance and with them knowing from their own previous experiences in maneuvers with the US Army and from the news media, that their men faced unbelievable firepower especially, from the air, most of the PDF commanders would surrender. He had obtained a list from a captured senior PDF officer of all the cellular telephone numbers of the senior PDF commanders across Panama. By personally calling each of them, many of whom knew him since he had been based in Panama for several years, some 70% of the PDF Commanders agreed to stand their forces down and this held with a huge saving in lives. Some who did not died fighting with their men.

This tactic was picked up by other US commanders across the country. US forces would quietly surround a location at night and then at dawn telephone the local commandant and present him with the facts of life. Fortunately this tactic worked out amazingly well.

The federal prison outside Penonomé was to be attacked by Rangers and Delta Force members rappelling into the prison courtyard from helicopters to rescue political prisoners being held there. When the forces arrived the prison was empty. First hand accounts suggest that troops rappelling down ropes at night with Apache helicopter gunships firing away is not the safest of activities and some we quietly pleased that the quarry had left.

In late December when the local populace found out that General Noriega was being held at the Vatican Embassy, a well behaved mob of thousands, and growing daily in number, began to circle the building chanting for his blood. By early January 1990, General Noriega had been told by the Papal Ambassador that his sanctuary would be terminated on January 3, 1990, and he would be expelled from the Embassy.

There was concern that this move might result in the Embassy personnel being taken hostages by General Noriega and his heavily armed entourage. As it turned out General Noriega, in full uniform walked out of the Embassy late on the evening of January 3. The mob that wanted to lynch him, were held back by US forces as officers of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, took him into custody, drove him to the airport and flew him to Miami, all within a five hour period.

Once General Noriega was out of the country, as witnessed from media video footage of him in Miami, resistance across Panama began slowly to evaporate. The US then began to replace its combat troops with those who would help the new government of Panama stabilize and rebuild the country. There was much damage in Panama City from missiles, artillery shelling and gun ship actions which became the centre of rebuilding over the next number of years and by mid-January many of the Rangers and other combat forces were back at their bases in the US leaving the restoration work to continue.

US casualties are given as 23 killed, the Panamanian civilian losses were put at 500 by the UN but many Panamanians considered this to be a low figure. The PDF is said to have lost a conservative 300 killed.

Footnotes 20 years on.

The Torrijos-Tocumen airport is now the Tocumen International Airport. It still has a military area adjacent to it, as do many international airports throughout the world, but it continues as the civilian international gateway to Panama City and Panama generally.

You will also have figured out that the light planes passing over our heads as I spoke with Luis at the Bar were landing on the runway that was once within the Rio Hato PDF Base. It is now called the Captain Scarlet Martinez airport, put this name into Google Earth and watch what comes up.

One can watch the landing routes of these light airplanes coming in from over the Pacific Ocean knowing that this is the same path taken by the 20 or so C130s as they delivered the Ranger paratroops in the dead of night on December 20, 1989 through screaming torrents of red and green anti-aircraft tracer fire.

General Noriega’s former beach house has been totally plundered. According to the locals it was stripped of all useful parts by them as soon as the Rangers left. The sign at the front of the house and which is directly opposite the very pretty house of the sisters of Santa Maria del Mar (where Noriega allegedly borrowed a nun’s habit) is now hard to read. It does say however, “Keep out by order of the Military or you will be arrested and fined”. The gate is pad locked and wall tops are covered with razor wire. This gives a good indication that the authorities mean what they say. However, at the east end of the wall on the beach there is wide open access. Watch out for all the broken glass. On a lighter note and on the beach between the house and the headland, you will find the most colorful clam shells anywhere.

Farillon Island sits about two miles off shore and faces Noriega’s former beach house. A cross has been erected on a high point of the end nearest to shore and in full view of that beach house. This is constant reminder of the murderous evil that was perpetrated on the Panamanian people by those who had schemed within this beach house, as well as a direct monument to those who were killed. The Island has two arches that you can see straight through at low tide. Thousands of years ago they would have been caves but the water has washed through. At high tide they are under water. It is alleged by some of the locals that those who had been kidnapped were handcuffed to concrete blocks and left in these arches through a tide cycle. The manacles being recovered the next day for reuse.

Locals today harvest oysters from the rock wall of the headland where some of the members of 3^rd Platoon C-2/75 Battalion were positioned to cover their comrades who took down Noriega’s former beach house.

Manuel Antonio Noriega was convicted in a Miami courtroom in 1992 of a variety of criminal acts and sentenced to 40 years in prison. This was later reduced to 30 years for good behavior and he became eligible for release in September 2007. However, as of November 2009 the US Bureau of Prisons still lists him as an inmate at FCI Miami. This is a minimum security prison near Homestead, Florida from which he fights extradition to France to face charges of money laundering. Convicted in absentia of crimes against the people of Panama, his mother country continues to request his extradition.

IF THESE PHOTOS DO NOT OPEN COPY AND PASTE IN WORD.

Some photographs.

Front gate to General Noriega’s former beach house.