The Panamanian government has ordered to probe the 1989 US invasion, popularly known as the ‘Operation Just Cause’, which toppled the then military leader General Manuel Noriega. Through the investigation, the authorities aim to find how many civilians and military officials lost their lives during the turmoil. In its concluding report, the investigators are expected to suggest on whether the victims and their family members deserve any kind of compensation. As per the official data, around five hundred and fourteen people had been brutally killed during the war.
Meanwhile, some unofficial reports reveal that the exact victim number is not less than one-thousand. The fatal war began in December 1989 and ended in January 1990. The western forces forcibly dismantled the Panamanian defence forces immediately after the war. Justifying the US military operation, the then US President George H. W. Bush alleged that the lives of US citizens in Panama is in terrible trouble. He added that over these years Panama had emerged as a transit hub for drugs and illegal money.
He further added that the dictatorial regime of Panama is practising terrible human rights violations. However, the US government has neither presented any substantial evidence to prove their allegations nor tried to use any peaceful measure to bring out a solution. Instead, through a swift military action the west forces toppled the then Panamanian government. They also imprisoned the then Panamanian supremo.
Still, the 89-year-old general Manuel Noriega is serving his long sentence in a Panamanian jail. While speaking to the reporters, the Panamanian vice president, Isabel de Saint Malo, asserts that the country is trying to find the truth. She added that no reconciliation is possible without knowing the actual truth. The country is trying to heal the bad wounds, she further added. Experts observed that Panama is slowly emerging as a powerful, stable Latin American nation.
