Following General Manuel Noriega’s attempts to nullify the May 1989 election of Guillermo Endara and prolonged U.S. diplomatic attempts through the Organization of American States (OAS) to persuade Noriega to honor the election results, Noriega appointed, on September 1, 1989, a new provisional government headed by loyalists. An attempted coup to overthrow Noriega in October 1989 failed, and on December 15,1989, his newly appointed government declared Panama to be in a “state of war” with the United States. After a U.S. Marine lieutenant was shot and killed, another lieutenant wounded, and other U.S. citizens detained,
President Bush accused the Noriega government of instituting a pattern of harassment against US. citizens in Panama.
On December 20,1989, President Bush ordered about 12,000 U.S. military personnel to Panama (augmenting the 13,600 troops already stationed there) in an invasion operation called Just Cause. The operation had four objectives: (1) to safeguard the lives of Americans in Panama,
(2) to protect the democratic election process, (3) to apprehend Noriega and bring him to the United States to stand trial for drug trafficking, and (4) to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty. Following Noriega’s arrest, President Bush announced that all four objectives of
Operation Just Cause had been achieved.
