The Panama Canal, Cocaine, and Communism: An Analysis on the Timing of the U.S. Action Against General Manuel Noriega

Abstract

This paper examines the timing of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause. This often overshadowed event ties together and highlights two pivotal episodes in 20th-century American history: The War on Drugs and the Cold War. It analyzes why the U.S. government chose to act as late as 1989, given that the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs became aware of Noriega’s involvement in drug trafficking as early as 1971. Namely, this essay argues that the U.S. government's decision to create and maintain a relationship with Noriega was part of a larger geopolitical strategy that prioritized the containment of communism in Latin America over the trafficking of illicit drugs. The decision to oust Noriega only occurred as the Cold War was ending and U.S. public opinion had shifted from a desire to contain communism to combating drug traffickers. This made Noriega, who had amassed a personal fortune through such activities and had begun to garner an image in the U.S. as a despotic dictator, a perfect target.