Time to Recall U.S. Military Attack in December 1989 on Panama of 36 Years Ago?

December 20, 2025 will mark the 36th Anniversary of the 1989 invasion of Panama by 24,000 Pentagon troops.

In "The U.S. Invasion of Panama: The Truth Behind Operation `Just Cause,’" an Independent Commission of Inquiry described what happened in Panama during the Pentagon’s December 1989 invasion:

“Thousands of Panamanians were killed and wounded during the invasion. The bulk of these casualties were civilians. Estimates of the numbers killed range from over 1,000 to as many as 4,000. A precise figure is hard to arrive at because the U.S. government has carried out a deliberate and systematic cover-up of the numbers killed…

“During the invasion U.S. troops carried out the destruction of the offices of almost every political organization and newspaper known to oppose U.S. policy. The U.S. invasion force destroyed Panama’s National Radio and another radio station, Sistema Radial De Onda Popular. Two television stations, Channel 2 and 5, were also taken over by U.S. troops. The newspaper `La Republica', which reported on the extensive death and destruction caused by the invasion, was ransacked and looted by U.S. troops. `La Republica' publisher Escolastico `Fuelela’ Calvo was arrested and taken by U.S. troops to Fort Clayton…”

The Independent Commission of Inquiry project directors, Gavriella Gemma and Teresa Gutierrez, also then noted that as of 1991 there was “not one hearing or congressional investigation into this monstrous event, even though it violated…the U.S. Constitution” and described the role the Big Media played in manipulating U.S. public opinion to support the Pentagon’s invasion of Panama in December 1989:

“The media, every television station, every major newspaper participated in a virtual orgy of applause while covering up what was really taking place in Panama. One less experienced anchorman attempting an analysis was summarily shut up while on the air…”

The CIA apparently played an important role in both preparing for and carrying out the Pentagon invasion of Panama in December 1989 of 36 years ago. As the "Eclipse: The Last Days of the CIA" book by Mark Perry revealed:

“Reagan signed a presidential finding that directed the CIA to provide secret nonlethal assistance to anti-Noriega forces inside Panama. This support included a radio transmitter and funding for a propaganda campaign to be run by opposition figures in the United States and the Canal Zone. The CIA chief of station in Panama was put in charge of disbursing the aid and organizing a credible political alternative to [then-Panamanian government head] Noriega…

“CIA planning for the Noriega operation went forward in mid-May 1988…

“…Programs were approved at a high-level meeting at the White House in mid-February, when [then-GOP President George H.W.] Bush [I and then-Bush I Administration officials], Baker, Gates, Webster and Stoltz decided to give opposition forces $10 million to help in the upcoming May elections…

“The agency participated fully in Operation Just Cause. It hastily set up a Panama Task Force that worked with a special liaison committee at the Defense Department. The CIA’s jobs were among the most important: to draw up targets, recruit new agents inside Panama, review on-site changes in the PDF order of battle, and debrief Panamanian immigrants on the habits and schedules of Noriega and his assistants. Their operations centered on psychological warfare, to grind away at the PDF in the days and hours leading up to American intervention…In the midst of the battle the CIA was required…to usher the new leaders of the nation through their first day in office…”