At a United States base in Panama the US authorities on Dec. 20 installed Guillermo Endara Gallimany as Panama's head of state, and immediately afterwards mobilized 23,000 troops with massive air support to remove from power Gen. Manuel Noriega, Panama's self-appointed leader, and his regime.
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The US decision to intervene followed the Panamanian National Assembly's Dec. 15 declaration making Noriega the formal head of government, with wide, and violence and threats against another US soldier and his wife.
The invasion, codenamed "Operation Just Cause", involved 13,000 troops already based in Panama and an additional 9,500 flown in from the USA. Action began at 1 a.m. (Panamanian time) on Dec. 20 as the troops, heavily supported by aircraft, helicopters, tanks and artillery, took control of key installations. The Panama Canal was closed for the first time in its history (reopening from Dec. 21 during daylight hours only, and fully on Dec. 27).
The US forces destroyed the FDP's headquarters, took control of a prison (from which they freed opponents of Noriega who had staged a coup attempt in October- -72), occupied the airport and the Panamanian-controlled Fort Amador base at the entrance to the Panama Canal. and blocked off the Pacora River Bridge. Noriega, in a broadcast over Radio Nacional just before its studios were bombarded by US helicopters, called on his supporters to continue the armed resistance.
The US Defence Department claimed on Dec. 21 to have crushed '-organized resistance" and said that it had captured 1,500 members of the FDP, but widespread fighting continued as the FDP and the Dignity Battalions continued to resist strongly. They attacked the US military headquarters on the city outskirts with mortars on Dec. 22 and shot at Vice-President Arias Calderón as he left the National Assembly. Fighting and looting centred on Panama City but was also evident in other areas particularly in Colón. Most of the US civilians reported to have been taken hostage at the beginning of the invasion were quickly freed, but a US Defence Department employee and his nephew apparently abducted by soldiers on Dec. 20 were found shot dead on Dec. 29.
Preliminary US casualty figures on Dec. 27 referred to 320 military dead, including 23 US personnel, and 230 civilian dead.
After it became known that Noriega had taken refuge in the papal nunciature on Dec. 24, the building was surrounded by US troops, tanks and barbed wire, and troops searched all vehicles entering and leaving. As diplomatic moves began in order to retrieve him from his refuge, US troops used the tactic of playing rock music incessantly at full blast through loudspeakers placed near the building, leading a Vatican spokesman to complain that the noise bombardment was unacceptable under international law. The papal nuncio, the Most Rev. Jose Sebastian Laboa, made it clear on Dec. 27 that international law constrained him not to hand Noriega over directly to the US authorities and questioned the US assertion that Noriega was merely a common criminal.
Noriega eventually walked out of the nunciature of his own accord on Jan. 3 and gave himself up to the US authorities, following hostile demonstrations outside the nunciature and having reportedly received assurances that he would not face the death penalty for his crimes and that he would be guaranteed a fair trial with the rights of a US citizen. He was immediately flown to the United States.
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