Originally called
Operation Blue Spoon, Operation Just Cause was an American
military intervention to depose
Panamanian
dictator General
Manuel Noriega and set up a democratic government. Just Cause was the end result of over two years of fruitless
negotiations and
escalations in tension between the U.S. government and
Noriega’s
regime.
Manuel Noriega actually started out with a close relationship with the U.S. government. He had been a paid
CIA informant and was on the
United States Army's payroll from 1955 to 1986.
Noriega rose to power in
Panama in 1983 as the Commander of the Panama Defense Force (PDF). Noriega employed several
puppet presidents, but all the power rested solely with him. The relationship between
Panama and the
United States began to
deteriorate when accusations of illegal acts began to surface in the early 1980’s. In 1988, the U.S officially
indicted
Noriega on
drug trafficking and
racketeering charges. Relations with the U.S. further soured when
Noriega annulled
Panama's presidential
election in May 1989, declared himself head of state, and a U.S.
marine was killed by Panamanian troops. The last straw was Noriega’s
declaration of war upon the
United States.
President
George Bush Sr. ordered the invasion of
Panama in December 1989, dubbed Operation Just Cause, which was initiated in the dark early morning hours of December 20. Operation Just Cause quickly attained results, with most of the heavy fighting over within the first 24 hours of
conflict. After
special forces cleared the way, approximately 24,000 U.S. troops seized control of
Panama City. Sporadic
sniper engagements followed for the next few days, but
insurgents were quickly
ferreted out. U.S. losses in Just Cause were extremely low with 2 killed and 34 wounded.
On December 24,
Noriega fled to
the Vatican’s
embassy in
Panama City.
Negations with the
Vatican to ensure
Noriega’s hand-over quickly began, and U.S.
soldiers surrounded the
embassy. To persuade
Noriega to come out, U.S. forces directed bright search lights and incredibly loud music at the building 24 hours a day. On January 3, 1990,
Noriega surrendered himself to U.S. custody and was transported to Miami for trial. Manuel Noriega was convicted of
drug trafficking,
money laundering, and
racketeering in 1992 and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
With order restored in
Panama and
Noriega’s
regime toppled, Operation Just Cause was declared a success and American troop withdrawals began on December 27, continuing into January of 1990. Guillermo Endara, who probably would have won the suppressed
election, was installed as
president.