Panama

1 conflicts · 1989–1990

$400M

Total US Spending

1

Conflicts

23

US Deaths

—

Troops Stationed

500

Civilian Deaths

0

Authorized

1

Unauthorized

📖 History of US Involvement in Panama

The 1989 invasion of Panama to arrest Manuel Noriega — a CIA asset the U.S. had paid, armed, and protected for decades — is the perfect encapsulation of American interventionism. The U.S. created Noriega, empowered him, tolerated his drug trafficking, then invaded a sovereign nation and killed hundreds of civilians to arrest him. The pattern — create, empower, destroy — has been repeated with Saddam Hussein and countless others.

US Conflicts Involving This Country

⚔️ Conflicts

Invasion of Panama

❌Victory

1989–1990 · $400M · 23 US deaths

500 civilian deaths

Invasion to depose Manuel Noriega — a former CIA asset turned liability. 27,000 troops deployed against a country of 2.5 million.

🗣️ What They Said

“The goals of the United States have been to safeguard the lives of Americans, to defend democracy in Panama, to combat drug trafficking, and to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty.”

— President George H.W. Bush, announcing the invasion (December 20, 1989) — while invading a country whose dictator the CIA had been paying for decades (Panama)