Cool USA Facts!

In 1989, the U.S. invades Panama with 26k troops to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega, with the stated goal of "Defending democracy and human rights in Panama". Noriega had been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, collecting at least $100,000 per year from the U.S. Treasury. As he rose to be the de facto ruler of Panama, he became even more valuable to the CIA, reporting on meetings with Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and supporting U.S. covert wars in Central America, and had been transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence had angered Washington. The UN human rights commission estimates that around 4,000 people were killed by US troops (The US claims only 250 people). 1 The US military bombed urban neighborhoods, executed hundreds of civilians, and even tested new experimental weapons. The Panama invasion violates both the UN and OAS charter, which prohibits the invasions of a sovereign country or their territorial integrity, as well as the Geneva conventions. All the major US media supported the invasion: the New York Times, Wallstreet Journal, The Washington Post, the LA times, CBS, and NBC. Michael Parenti observes in his observation of media complicity with the invasion: "The media is not favorable to corporate america, they are corporate america." The UN voted on Dec 29th 1989 overwhelming to condemn the invasion as a "flagrant violation of international law". No US soldier or general has been tried for these war crimes, despite the UN commission, or the dozens of eyewitness accounts by Panamanians. These atrocities are chronicled in the documentary The Panama Deception.