Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno was a Panamanian politician and military officer who was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never actually served as president of Panama, instead ruling as an unelected military dictator through puppet presidents. Amassing a personal fortune through drug trafficking operations by the Panamanian military, Noriega had longstanding ties with American intelligence agencies before the U.S. invasion of Panama removed him from power.
The United States invaded Panama in mid-December 1989 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. The primary purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, who was wanted by U.S. authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking. The operation, codenamed Operation Just Cause, concluded in late January 1990 with the surrender of Noriega. The Panama Defense Forces (PDF) were dissolved, and President-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office.
Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal is a Panamanian politician and businessman who served as the 36th President of Panama from 2009 to 2014.
Sarah York is an American woman who, at age 10, became the pen pal of Manuel Noriega, the then-de facto ruler of Panama. York began correspondence with Noriega after her father suggested on a whim that she should write to him because she liked the general's hat. This correspondence developed to the point where Noriega invited her family to visit him in Panama. Her family agreed to the visit, seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Manuel Solís Palma was the acting president of Panama from 26 February 1988 to 1 September 1989, under the military rule of Manuel Noriega. He served as education minister in several administrations, and worked on the 1968 presidential campaign of Arnulfo Arias Madrid.
Operation Nifty Package was a United States Delta and Navy SEAL-operated plan conducted in 1989 designed to capture Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. When Noriega took refuge in the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See, deafening music and other psychological warfare tactics were used to convince him to exit and surrender himself.
The Panama Defense Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas de Defensa de Panamá; FFDD), formerly the National Guard (of Panama) (Spanish: Guardia Nacional), were the armed forces of the Republic of Panama.
General elections were held in Panama on 8 May 1994, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.
The illegal drug trade in Panama includes trans-shipment of cocaine to the United States. The 1989 United States invasion of Panama to topple Dictator Manuel Noriega was justified in part by the need to combat drug trafficking. Noriega, the dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989, had a relationship with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the 1950s. More recently, Mexican cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel have been active in Panama.
Ricardo Arias Calderón was a Panamanian politician who served as First Vice President from 1989 to 1992. A Catholic who studied at Yale and the Sorbonne, Arias returned to Panama in the 1960s to work for political reform. He went on to become the president of the Christian Democratic Party of Panama and a leading opponent of the military government of Manuel Noriega. In 1984, he ran as a candidate for Second Vice President on the ticket of three-time former president Arnulfo Arias, but they were defeated by pro-Noriega candidate Nicolás Ardito Barletta.
Carlos Alberto Duque Jaén was a Panamanian businessman and politician who was President-for-Life of Panama's Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD). He was a presidential candidate for the PRD in the 1989 presidential election.
Diogo Miguel Morgado Soares is a Portuguese actor who may be best known for his portrayal of Jesus in the History Channel epic mini-series The Bible and in the film Son of God.
José Isabel Blandón Castillo was a close adviser to Panama's Dictator Manuel Noriega; he was described in 1988 by The Washington Post as "one of [Noriega's] oldest and closest advisers", and became a "key informant" in Noriega's drug-related prosecution in the United States.
Papi Ricky is a Chilean television soap opera created by Sebastian Arrau, that aired on Canal 13 from 12 March to 1 October 2007. Starring Jorge Zabaleta, Belén Soto, María Elena Swett and Tamara Acosta, it is directed by Ítalo Galleani.
The Panama Truth Commission was appointed by Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso in 2000 to investigate crimes committed under the military rule of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega.
The 1989 Panamanian coup d'état attempt was a failed coup d'état which occurred in Panama City on 3 October. The attempt was led by Major Moisés Giroldi, supported by a group of officers who had returned from a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Namibia. Although the plotters succeeded in capturing Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the coup was quickly suppressed. Giroldi, together with nine other members of the Panamanian Defense Forces, was executed on 3 and 4 October 1989. An eleventh participant died in prison after being tortured. These events became known as the "Albrook massacre".
Events in the year 2017 in Panama.
Panama is a 2022 action thriller film directed by Mark Neveldine and starring Cole Hauser and Mel Gibson.
