The sizable U.S. military assault that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Jan. 3 was the culmination of months of escalating war moves by Washington. President Donald Trump says his administration will now “run” the country and seize the profits of its oil industry, in flagrant violation of Venezuela’s national sovereignty. These war moves are driven by the U.S. rulers’ need to shore up their domination in what they regard as “their” hemisphere.
This is not new in the history of Washington’s intervention in Latin America. Exactly 36 years ago to the day, the U.S. rulers carried out a similar assault on the government and people of Panama, arresting and imprisoning the country’s president, Manuel Noriega. Below is an excerpt from the Pathfinder pamphlet, Panama: The Truth About the U.S. Invasion by Cindy Jaquith, Don Rojas, Nils Castro and Fidel Castro. Copyright © 1990 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.
On December 20, 1989, millions of working people throughout the Americas awoke to the news that United States military forces had invaded Panama during the night.
At 1:00 a.m., U.S. officials held a secret ceremony at Fort Clayton, one of the thirteen U.S. military bases in the canal zone. There Guillermo Endara was declared Panama’s new president. Moments later, massive bombing of Panama City began. U.S. troops then mounted a savage assault on military bases and working-class neighborhoods. Washington’s forces eventually reached 26,000, including the 12,000 troops stationed there prior to December 20.
Panama’s working people were the chief victims of Washington’s brutal assault. In the first days of the invasion, thousands of civilians were killed, wounded, and left homeless. Whole neighborhoods were bombed into rubble or burned to the ground. U.S. troops prevented many of the wounded from receiving emergency medical care, and the lack of even the most basic medical supplies and facilities led to many deaths. Panamanian victims were poured by the truckload into common graves. Over 5,000 people were rounded up and held in detention.
Resistance to the invasion was led by Panama’s working people, organized in the Dignity Battalions. Though vilified by Washington and the big business media as “thugs” and “looters,” these battalions were in fact popular militias set up in 1988 to help prepare Panama’s workers and farmers to defend their country against exactly what occurred: a U.S. invasion. Although most combat had ended by the second week of the invasion, the resistance led by the Dignity Battalions proved much stiffer than the Pentagon had bargained for.
Two weeks after the invasion, the U.S. occupation force seized Gen. Manuel Noriega, Panama’s head of state, flew him to the United States against his will, and jailed him. Washington has announced its intention to put him on trial in Miami. This arrogant move is in gross violation of Panamanian sovereignty, as well as all norms of international law.
Washington used the invasion to escalate provocations against Cuba and Nicaragua as well. The embassies of these two countries in Panama City were surrounded by U.S. troops. At one point several Cuban diplomats were illegally detained. On December 29, U.S. forces raided and ransacked the residence of Nicaragua’s ambassador.
In the days and weeks following the invasion, actions protesting Washington’s assault took place in many U.S. cities, as well as throughout Latin America and in dozens of other countries around the world. In particular, many anti-imperialist fighters in the Caribbean spoke out against the violation of their sister country. …
The truth is that after several years of trying to overthrow Panama’s government using everything from economic sanctions to coup attempts, Washington finally decided that only direct military intervention could accomplish what it wanted. Its aim was to install a client regime, smash the movement for national sovereignty and social justice that had developed in Panama over the previous twenty years, undermine the Panama Canal treaties, ensure the use of U.S. military bases in the country, and strengthen U.S. domination throughout the region.