Is the 1989 Invasion of Panama an Indicator of What Is to Come in Venezuela?

At a time when President Donald Trump has built his 10,000-man army (with the Navy and Marines, and several ships and aircraft), allowed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to engage in covert operations to destabilize the Nicolas Maduro regime, redeployed the USS Gerald R. Ford strike group from Croatia to the Caribbean Sea, and considered bombing alleged cocaine facilities and drug-trafficking routes inside of Venezuelan territory; the war in that region is really heating up. Aside from the fact that most of the Latin American drug trade is centered around Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico (as well as places throughout Central America), and not Venezuela, you would think by the same logic, the Trump administration would be bombing those countries instead to eliminate the actual narcotics, but, like with most political strategies centered around foreign policy, the justifications for invasions or covert operations have more to do with deeper agendas, such as control over oil (in this case) or other natural resources.

This intimidation against Venezuela brings up some parallels from another American invasion: this time in Panama in December 1989. Panama was in the news earlier this year when President Trump threatened the Central American nation, causing it to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and agree to a negotiation to have BlackRock and a few other American investors take the majority share of the Panama Canal from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holding in a $22.8 billion purchase (as of today, this deal between BlackRock and CK Hutchison has fallen apart, so it appears that China can “keep” the Panama Canal, while the United States got Panama out of China’s global infrastructure project).

Trouble in Panama began in 1967 to 1970 when the United States government began supporting Manuel Antonio Noriega’s rise to power, and the general was added to the CIA’s payroll and worked as an informant for years. Although Noriega was fired from the CIA for a brief period starting in 1977 because of his involvement in drug trafficking, he was considered too important of an asset after the Marxist Sandinista government gained power in Nicaragua in 1979 and was rehired (the CIA was heavily involved in a failed attempt to restore the Somoza dynasty and overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua by training and funding the rebel but terrorist group, the Contras). The United States supported Noriega when he became the military dictator of Panama in 1983, but between 1986 and 1988, the Ronald Reagan administration, after years of support, finally cut him off because he supposedly betrayed the United States and acted as a double agent for Cuba’s intelligence agency and the Sandinistas (Noriega was even indicted for drug smuggling and money laundering by grand juries in Tampa and Miami).

However, by 1989, President George H. W. Bush decided to take it further by dispatching more troops to the Panama Canal Zone (the United States owned and controlled the canal at the time) after a United States Marine was shot by a Panamanian soldier at a roadblock. By December 20, 9,000 additional troops merged with the 12,000 military members in the country to invade and overthrow the Noriega regime in what was deemed “Operation Just Cause” (the total number of American forces swelled to 27,684, and 300 aircraft were deployed). The four stated reasons for the invasion were: “safeguarding the lives of the approximately 35,000 U.S. citizens living in Panama; defending democracy and human rights; combating drug trafficking in a country that had become a center for drug money laundering and a transit point for drug trafficking to the U.S. and Europe; and protecting the integrity of the treaties that President Jimmy Carter had signed with Panamanian authorities, which called for the Panama Canal to be turned over to them in 2000.” Of course, in reality, the real reason was to ensure that the canal stayed under American control and out of the hands of Noriega.

During the invasion that only took the United States military four days to conquer the entire country, twenty-three American soldiers (and three American civilians), 150 Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) members, and roughly 516 civilians (it may have been as many as 1,000) perished; and the operation was condemned by the Organization of American States, the European Union, and the United Nations as illegal under international law. Yet, the war received bipartisan support from congressmen and an 80% approval rate amongst Americans (just spin enough propaganda and you can get most of the population to go along with anything, and the United States will bully countries regardless of what other nations think because it has the military might to do so without consequences). On January 3, 1990, Noriega surrendered at the Vatican embassy in Panama City (after some foul play that included psychological warfare and the playing of constant loud music outside of the building), and he was transported to the United States to face federal charges (drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering). He was extradited back to Panama (after spending some time in prison in the United States and France) to spend the rest of his life under house arrest.

Does this 1989 invasion tell us anything about what will happen to Venezuela in the upcoming weeks or months? You can already see the parallels with the troop buildup in the Caribbean Sea and the potentially false evidence linking Maduro to drug cartels (he was indicted for narco-terrorism in Manhattan in 2020 during Trump’s first term, and during the second term, no evidence has been released to the public showing how the Venezuelan government is heading the Cartel de los Soles, which may or may not even be a real organization, or Tren de Aragua). As the Trump administration continues to fly bombers up to the coast of Venezuela as an intimidation exercise, the Maduro regime has claimed that it arrested mercenaries who were planning to carry out false-flag operations, in conjunction with the CIA, to initiate a war in Venezuela (the American public will undeniably rally around a war if the CIA is able to get Americans killed or ships sunk and blame it on Maduro). This comes as the USS Gravely (guided-missile destroyer) docks in Trinidad and Tobago, where Maduro believes that a future false-flag attack may originate, to participate in the joint exercises taking place between both countries.

Will a Gulf of Tonkin-type or 9-11-style false-flag event be orchestrated by Trump’s authorization of the CIA to conduct covert operations? Why would the USS Gerald Ford be deployed to the region other than to support a land operation that President Trump himself has hinted at? We must face the very real possibility that a regime change war is coming in South America, and for those celebrating Trump’s extrajudicial airstrikes on Venezuelan boats, remember that a lot of American troops will be killed in the upcoming war that you supported. Like I said previously, if you really want to end the drug trafficking into the United States (which we should), arrest the boaters before they dock on American soil (especially since roughly 25% of suspected drug boats intercepted by the Coast Guard end up not containing any drugs whatsoever, so innocent people may be the targets of some of the Trump administration’s strikes), and there is really no reason that a sophisticated military and intelligence force, such as the United States, cannot easily protect our borders domestically instead of internationally. Instead, Trump is striking boats hundreds to thousands of miles away, where, as Senator Rand Paul stated, these boats “would have to stop and refuel 20 times” before making it to Florida (or anywhere else in the United States), indicating that the boats were likely headed to Trinidad and Tobago or another Caribbean island (not the United States) or may have been fishing boats.

This is just an excuse to eliminate the Maduro regime and take control of Venezuela’s natural resources, and yet, Americans are again being manipulated to support additional military operations. Do not fall for the propaganda. It may be too late to go back and see the flaws in the justifications during the onset of the War on Terror (largely Afghanistan and Iraq, and the drone warfare across several other countries), but you have the ability to see through the lies this time around.

Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.