The United States’ recent military intervention in Venezuela and the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have drawn comparisons to the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama and the arrest of Manuel Noriega.
Although the two events seem to have much in common, UVA Today checked in with Miller Center of Public Affairs expert Robert A. Strong, a nonresident faculty senior fellow at the center and emeritus professor at Washington and Lee University, to see how they compare.
Q. It’s been more than three decades since the U.S. action in Panama. Would you describe the events that led to it?
Robert A. Strong is a nonresident faculty senior fellow at the UVA Miller Center for Public Affairs and emeritus professor at Washington and Lee University. (Contributed photo)
A. In 1989, the American people were united in opposition to Panama’s dictator. Seymour Hersh, the accomplished investigative journalist, had published an expose of Noriega’s involvement in the murder of his political opponents and flagrant violations of human rights.
Congress was full of Noriega critics. Two senators on opposite sides of the aisle – Democrat John Kerry and Republican Jesse Helms – worked together to block American aid to Panama because Noriega’s nation was clearly involved in the shipment of illicit drugs to the United States. Two separate American grand juries indicted Noriega for money laundering and drug trafficking.
Opposition to Noriega rose when former President Jimmy Carter and other international election watchers called out fraud in Panamanian voting in the spring of 1989. Noriega’s thugs attacked one of the opposition candidates just after the election, and the image of his bloody face was seen in news coverage across America and around the world – a photograph that went viral before things going viral was a common experience.
Noriega had declining support in Panama, no real allies in Latin America and an American public fully aware of his crimes.
Q. What sparked the U.S. military intervention in Panama?
A. On Dec. 16, 1989, Panamanian military personnel at a roadblock in Panama City opened fire on a group of off-duty American servicemen driving away from their barrier. One serviceman was killed, another wounded. A naval officer and his wife, who witnessed the roadblock shooting, were taken into custody. The officer was beaten, and his wife harassed. When the details of these events reached President George H.W. Bush at a weekend White House meeting, Bush ordered the … intervention.
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