Many of who had ties to the United States economy. .
By the mid 1980s, Noriega was in the wrong and considered a criminal. Among other things, he seems to have been dragging his feet about helping the U.S. in the contra war. His independence also threatened our interests in the Panama Canal. On January 1, 1990 most of the administration of the Canal was due to go over to Panama. In the year 2000 it goes entirely to them. We had to make sure that Panama was in the hands of people we could control before that date. .
Since we could no longer trust Noriega to do our bidding it was time for him to go. Washington forced economic sanctions that practically destroyed the economy. Draining the poor nonwhite majority. They too came to hate Noriega, not least because he was responsible for the economic warfare that was causing their children to starve. .
Next a military coup was tried and failed. Then in December 1989, the United States celebrated the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War by invading Panama outright. Thousands of civilians are have thought to have been killed. This restored power to the rich white elite that had been displaced by the Torrijos coup. This was just in time to make certain a compliant government for the administrative changeover of the Canal on January 1, 1990.
Throughout this process, the U.S. press followed Washington's lead, selecting villains in terms of current needs. Actions we'd formerly condoned became crimes. For example, in 1984, Arnulfo Arias had won the Panamanian presidential election. Noriega stole the election, with considerable violence and fraud. .
But Noriega hadn't yet become disobedient. He was our man in Panama, and the Arias party was considered to have dangerous elements of "ultra nationalism."" The Reagan administration consequently highly praised the violence and fraud, and sent Secretary of State George Shultz down to legitimate the stolen election and praise Noriega's account of "democracy- as a mold for the errant Sandinistas.