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Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los Angeles

U.S. Invasion of Panama

U.S. Army Sergeant Raymond Cabacar trying to protect civilians during a gun battle with the Panama Defense Force at the Panama Traffic Directorate. December 1989. The invasion of Panama provoked international outrage. Some countries charged that the U.S. had committed an act of aggression by invading Panama. On December 29, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted 75–20, with 40 abstentions, to condemn the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law. On December 22, the Organization of American States passed a resolution deploring the invasion and calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops, as well as a resolution condemning the violation of the diplomatic status of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama by U.S. Special Forces who had entered the building. At the UN Security Council, after discussing the issue over several days, seven nations initiated a draft resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama. It was vetoed on December 23 by three of the permanent members of the Security Council, France, United Kingdom, and the United States, which cited its right of self-defense of 35,000 Americans present on the Panama Canal.

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1. U.S. Invasion of Panama American soldiers search people detained in front of the home of a business associate of Manuel Noriega in Panama City on Dec. 26, 1989. The US government invoked self-defense as a legal justification for its invasion of Panama. Several scholars and observers have opined that the invasion was illegal under international law. They argue that the justifications for the invasion which were given by the U.S. were, according to these sources, factually groundless, and moreover, even if they had been true they would have provided inadequate support for the invasion under international law. Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, a cornerstone of international law, prohibits the use of force by member states to settle disputes except in self-defense or when authorized by the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution which strongly deplored the 1989 U.S. armed invasion of Panama. The resolution determined that the U.S. invasion was a "flagrant violation of international law." A similar resolution which was proposed by the United Nations Security Council was supported by the majority of its member nations but vetoed by the US, France and the UK.
2. U.S. Invasion of Panama U.S. Army Sergeant Raymond Cabacar trying to protect civilians during a gun battle with the Panama Defense Force at the Panama Traffic Directorate. December 1989. The invasion of Panama provoked international outrage. Some countries charged that the U.S. had committed an act of aggression by invading Panama. On December 29, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted 75–20, with 40 abstentions, to condemn the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law. On December 22, the Organization of American States passed a resolution deploring the invasion and calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops, as well as a resolution condemning the violation of the diplomatic status of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama by U.S. Special Forces who had entered the building. At the UN Security Council, after discussing the issue over several days, seven nations initiated a draft resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama. It was vetoed on December 23 by three of the permanent members of the Security Council, France, United Kingdom, and the United States, which cited its right of self-defense of 35,000 Americans present on the Panama Canal.
3. US Invasion of Panama A woman visits the tomb of her relative killed in the 1989 US military invasion at the Jardin de la Paz cemetery in Panama City, on December 20, 2019, during a solemn ceremony commemorating the 30th anniversary of the intervention. - Al least five hundred people died and over 2,000 were injured during the invasion aimed to oust Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega from power and take him to the US to be tried on drug charges. On December 20, 2015, Vice President Isabel De Saint Malo de Alvarado announced Panama's intention to form a special independent commission with the aim to publish a report to mark the 26th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Panama. The commission's goal would be to identify victims so that reparations could be paid to their families, as well as to establish public monuments and school curriculums to honor history and reclaim Panama's collective memory. Victims' families have claimed that past investigations into the invasion had been funded by Washington and therefore were biased.
4. U.S. Invasion of Panama Destruction around the Comandancia in Panama City after the invasion, December 1989. By themselves, these ratios suggest that the rule of proportionality and the duty to minimize harm to civilians, where doing so would not compromise a legitimate military objective, were not faithfully observed by the invading U.S. forces. For us, the controversy over the number of civilian casualties should not obscure the important debate on the manner in which those people died
5. U.S. Invasion of Panama A U.S. Army M-113 armored personnel carrier on a street near the destroyed Panamanian Defense Force headquarters. The number of Panamanian military dead was estimated at 314 by the United States Southern Command. According to official Pentagon figures, 516 Panamanians were killed during the invasion, including 314 soldiers and 202 civilians; however, an internal U.S. Army memo estimated the number at 1,000.
6. U.S. Invasion of Panama American soldiers detain a group of men during the invasion of Panama. The United States invaded Panama in 1989 to bring leader Manuel Noriega back to the U.S. to face charges of racketeering, drug trafficking, and money laundering. US military casualties in the invasion were 23 killed and 325 wounded. In June 1990, the US military announced that of its casualties, 2 dead and 19 wounded were victims of friendly fire.
7. U.S. Invasion of Panama US Invasion of PanamaEl Chorrillo was badly damaged by fighting. More than 20,000 Panamanians were displaced during the invasion, and disorder continued for nearly two weeks. Eventually, these plans became Operation Blue Spoon which was then, in order to sustain the perceived legitimacy of the invasion throughout the operation, renamed by the Pentagon to Operation Just Cause. General Colin Powell said that he liked the name because "even our severest critics would have to utter 'Just Cause' while denouncing us." Critics, however, renamed it Operation "Just 'Cuz", arguing that it had been undertaken "just [be]cause Bush felt like it."
8. U.S. Invasion of Panama US Invasion of PanamaEl Chorrillo was badly damaged by fighting. More than 20,000 Panamanians were displaced during the invasion, and disorder continued for nearly two weeks. Eventually, these plans became Operation Blue Spoon which was then, in order to sustain the perceived legitimacy of the invasion throughout the operation, renamed by the Pentagon to Operation Just Cause. General Colin Powell said that he liked the name because "even our severest critics would have to utter 'Just Cause' while denouncing us." Critics, however, renamed it Operation "Just 'Cuz", arguing that it had been undertaken "just [be]cause Bush felt like it."
9. 1989 Invasion of Panama American soldiers preparing to take La Comandancia in the El Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City, December 1989 Human Rights Watch's 1991 report stated that even with these uncertainties, the figures on civilian casualties are "still troublesome" because: With respect to the United States forces, our report concluded that the tactics and weapons utilized resulted in an inordinate number of civilian victims, in violation of specific obligations under the Geneva Conventions… [Panama's civilian deaths] reveal that the "surgical operation" by American forces inflicted a toll in civilian lives that was at least four-and-a-half times higher than military casualties in the enemy, and twelve or thirteen times higher than the casualties suffered by U.S. troops.
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1. U.S. Invasion of Grenada Sir Paul Scoon, Governor-General of Grenada. The army under Hudson Austin then stepped in and formed a military council to rule the country, placing Governor-General Paul Scoon under house arrest. The army announced a four-day total curfew during which anyone seen on the streets would be summarily executed. The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Barbados, and Jamaica all appealed to the United States for assistance. Scoon had requested the invasion through secret diplomatic channels, but it was not made public for his safety
2. U.S. Invasion of Grenada Hogtied and hooded, a prisoner is restrained by an American Marine on a grassy landing strip at Point Salines during the US invasion of Grenada. H-hour for the invasion was set for 05:00 on 25 October 1983. U.S. troops deployed for Grenada by helicopter from Grantley Adams International Airport on Barbados before daybreak. Nearly simultaneously, American paratroopers arrived directly by transport aircraft from bases in the eastern United States and U.S. Marines were airlifted to the island from the USS Guam offshore. It was the first major operation conducted by the American military since the Vietnam War.
3. U.S. Invasion of Grenada
4. U.S. Invasion of Grenada U.S. troops guarding suspected members of the PRA of Grenada during the Urgent Fury invasion of the island, 1983. The invading forces encountered about 1,500 Grenadian soldiers of the People's Revolutionary Army (PRA) manning defensive positions. The PRA troops were for the most part equipped with light weapons, mostly Kalashnikov-pattern automatic rifles of Soviet bloc origin. The PRA was not regarded as a serious military threat by the US, which was more concerned by the possibility that Cuba would send a large expeditionary force to intervene on behalf of its erstwhile ally.
5. U.S. Invasion of Grenada Members of the Eastern Caribbean Defense Force on route to Grenada, 1983. On 25 October, the combined forces of the United States and the Regional Security System (RSS) based in Barbados invaded Grenada in an operation code named Operation Urgent Fury. The United States stated that this was done at the request of Barbados' Prime Minister Tom Adams and Dominica's Prime Minister Eugenia Charles. The invasion was highly criticized by the governments in Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom. The United Nations General Assembly condemned it as "a flagrant violation of international law" by a vote of 108 to 9, with 27 abstentions.
6. U.S. Invasion of Grenada
7. U.S. Invasion of Grenada
8. U.S. Invasion of Grenada M102 howitzers of 1st Bn 320th FA, 82D Abn Div firing during battle in Grenada, October, 1983. Similarly, the United Nations General Assembly adopted General Assembly Resolution 38/7 by a vote of 108 to 9 with 27 abstentions, which "deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law." A similar resolution in the United Nations Security Council received widespread support but was vetoed by the United States
9. 1983 US Invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles (160 km) north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days. It was triggered by the strife within the People's Revolutionary Government which resulted in the house arrest and execution of the previous leader and second Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop, and the establishment of the Revolutionary Military Council with Hudson Austin as Chairman. The invasion resulted in the appointment of an interim government, followed by elections in 1984. The Reagan administration in the U.S. launched a military intervention following receipt of a formal appeal for help from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. In addition, the Governor-General of Grenada Paul Scoon secretly signaled he would also support outside intervention, but he put off signing a letter of invitation until 26 October. Reagan also acted due to "concerns over the 600 U.S. medical students on the island" and fears of a repeat of the Iran hostage crisis
10. U.S. Invasion of Grenada US Army soldiers arrest two Cubans, one of them an officer, during the US invasion of Grenada, October 27th, 1983. This was the first overthrow of a Communist government by armed means since the end of World War II. The Soviet Union said that Grenada had been the object of United States threats, that the invasion violated international law, and that no small nation would find itself safe if the aggression were not rebuffed.
11. U.S. Invasion of Grenada
12. U.S. Invasion of Panama U.S. Army Sergeant Raymond Cabacar trying to protect civilians during a gun battle with the Panama Defense Force at the Panama Traffic Directorate. December 1989. The invasion of Panama provoked international outrage. Some countries charged that the U.S. had committed an act of aggression by invading Panama. On December 29, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted 75–20, with 40 abstentions, to condemn the invasion as a flagrant violation of international law. On December 22, the Organization of American States passed a resolution deploring the invasion and calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops, as well as a resolution condemning the violation of the diplomatic status of the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama by U.S. Special Forces who had entered the building. At the UN Security Council, after discussing the issue over several days, seven nations initiated a draft resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Panama. It was vetoed on December 23 by three of the permanent members of the Security Council, France, United Kingdom, and the United States, which cited its right of self-defense of 35,000 Americans present on the Panama Canal.