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The United States Invasion of Panama, code-named Operation Just Cause, was the invasion of Panama by the United States between mid-December 1989 and late-January 1990. It occurred during the administration of U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and ten years after the Torrijos–Carter Treaties were ratified to transfer control of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama by 1 January 2000. During the invasion, ''de facto'' Panamanian leader, general, and dictator Manuel Noriega was deposed, president-elect Guillermo Endara sworn into office, and the Panamanian Defense Force dissolved. == Background == The United States long maintained numerous military bases and a substantial garrison throughout the Canal Zone to protect the American-owned Panama Canal and to maintain American control of this strategically important area. On 7 September 1977, President of the United States Jimmy Carter and the ''de facto'' leader of Panama, General Omar Torrijos, signed Torrijos–Carter Treaties, which set in motion the process of handing over the Panama Canal to Panamanian control by the year 2000. Although the canal was destined for Panamanian administration, the military bases remained and one condition of the transfer was that the canal would remain open for American shipping. The US had long-standing relations with General Noriega, who served as a US intelligence asset and paid informant of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1967, including the period when Bush was head of the CIA (1976–77). Noriega had sided with the US rather than the USSR in Central America, notably in sabotaging the forces of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and the revolutionaries of the FMLN group in El Salvador. Noriega received upwards of $100,000 per year from the 1960s until the 1980s, when his salary was increased to $200,000 per year. Although he worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration to restrict illegal drug shipments, he was known to simultaneously accept significant financial support from drug dealers,〔 because he facilitated the laundering of drug money, and through Noriega they received protection from DEA investigations due to his special relationship with the CIA. In the mid-1980s, relations between Noriega and the United States began to deteriorate. In 1986, US President Ronald Reagan opened negotiations with General Noriega, requesting that the Panamanian leader step down after he was publicly exposed in ''The New York Times'' by Seymour Hersh, and later exposed in the Iran-Contra Scandal. Reagan pressured him with several drug-related indictments in US courts; however, since extradition laws between Panama and the US were weak, Noriega deemed this threat not credible and did not submit to Reagan's demands. In 1988, Elliot Abrams and others in the Pentagon began pushing for a US invasion, but Reagan refused, due to Bush's ties to Noriega through his previous positions in the CIA and the Task Force on Drugs, and their potentially negative impact on Bush's presidential campaign. Later negotiations involved dropping the drug-trafficking indictments. In March 1988, an attempted coup against the government of Panama was resisted by Noriega's forces. As relations continued to deteriorate, Noriega appeared to shift his Cold War allegiance towards the Soviet bloc, soliciting and receiving military aid from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Libya. American military planners began preparing contingency plans to invade Panama. In May 1989, during the Panamanian national elections, an alliance of parties opposed to the Noriega dictatorship counted results from the country's election precincts, before they were sent to the district centers. Their tally showed their candidate, Guillermo Endara, defeating Carlos Duque, candidate of a pro-Noriega coalition, by nearly 3–1. Endara was beaten up by Noriega supporters the next day in his motorcade.〔 Noriega declared the election null and maintained power by force, making him unpopular among Panamanians. Noriega's government insisted that it had won the presidential election and that irregularities had been on the part of US-backed candidates from opposition parties.〔A report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that numerous human rights violations occurred in Panama during Noriega's government: 〕 Bush called on Noriega to honor the will of the Panamanian people.〔 The United States reinforced its Canal Zone garrison, and increased the tempo of training and other activities intended to put pressure on Noriega. In October 1989, Noriega foiled a second coup attempt by members of the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), led by Major Moisés Giroldi. Pressure mounted on Bush as the media labeled him a "wimp" for failing to aid Panama, in spite of campaign rhetoric that called for a tough stand against drug traffickers.〔 Bush declared that the US would not negotiate with a drug trafficker and denied knowledge of Noriega's involvement with the drug trade prior to his February 1988 indictment, although Bush had met with Noriega while Director of the CIA and had been the Chair of the Task Force on Drugs while Vice President.〔"The Noriega Challenge to George Bush's Credibility and the 1989 Invasion of Panama". 2000.〕 On 15 December, the Panamanian general assembly passed a resolution declaring that the actions of the United States had caused a state of war to exist between Panama and the United States. Next day, four US military personnel were stopped at a roadblock around 9:00 PM outside PDF headquarters in the ''El Chorrillo'' neighborhood of Panama City. Marine Captain Richard E. Hadded, Navy Lieutenant Michael J. Wilson, Army Captain Barry L. Rainwater, and Marine First Lieutenant Robert Paz had left the Fort Clayton military base and were on their way to have dinner at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Panama City. The US Department of Defense reported that the servicemen had been unarmed, in a private vehicle and that they attempted to flee only after their vehicle was surrounded by an angry crowd of civilians and PDF troops. The PDF asserted later that the Americans were armed and on a reconnaissance mission. The PDF opened fire and Lieutenant Paz was fatally wounded by a round that entered the rear of the vehicle and struck him in the back. Captain Hadded, the driver of the vehicle, was also wounded in the foot. Paz was rushed to Gorgas Army Hospital but died of his wounds. He received the Purple Heart posthumously.〔 Corps Historian's Personal Notes Recorded During the Operation〕 According to US military sources, a US naval officer and his wife witnessed the incident and were detained by Panamanian Defense Force soldiers. While in police custody, they were assaulted by the PDF. The US naval officer spent two weeks in hospital recovering from the beating. His wife was not injured but was sexually threatened by PDF soldiers.〔 The next day, President Bush ordered the execution of the Panama invasion plan; the military set H-Hour as 0100 on 20 December. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States invasion of Panama」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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