The Caribbean, a Theater of Conflict (Part 5)

closest historical parallel to today's Venezuelan crisis. President George H.W. Bush ordered the military invasion of Panama, claiming its leader Manuel Noriega, a one-time American ally and CIA informant, posed a threat to United States interests in the canal zone. The official justification centered on drug trafficking charges, with accusations that Noriega had turned his country into a narco state for Colombian cartels. Operation Just Cause demonstrated the full spectrum of modern imperial intervention. US troops not only used conventional force, but employed psychological warfare, blasting rock music, including songs by Guns N' Roses, as Noriega took sanctuary in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City. Noriega surrendered on January 3rd, 1990, and was whisked away to Miami, where he would later stand trial, be convicted, and spend about 20 years in American prison on drug trafficking. Two South Florida lawyers, one who prosecuted Noriega, and another who defended him, have noted striking similarities between the Panama operation and current US posturing toward Venezuela. The pattern is unmistakable. A former ally becomes inconvenient, drug trafficking provides the legal pretext, and military force delivers the ultimate solution.