Manuel Noriega (The Era of Relative Peace)

Manuel Noriega was the military leader of Panama, seizing power in August 1983. He was formerly an ally of the United States during the early 1980s as he provided intelligence of communist revolutions throughout Latin America. Noriega was also a major cocaine trafficker, something which his U.S. intelligence handlers were aware of for years and was placed on the U.S. watch list. America was already preparing for the capture of Noriega, only forgotten when World War III broke out in June 1989.

The United States had to cooperate with Panama due to its strategic location of the Panama Canal, which was essential for Allied ships to traverse from the Pacific to the Atlantic or vice versa.

After the war, in 1992, these charges were immediately brought back up. Since an invasion would have been too costly as it followed after the war, the U.S., through its CIA and DEA agents, began stirring up Noriega's crimes to the Panamanian people. On March 27, 1992, Citizens immediately swarmed the streets and overrun PDF positions, in a manner similar to the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in 1986. Some PDF soldiers and officers defected to the masses. Under intense pressure, Noriega resigned and turned himself in to DEA agents where he was flown the United States to face charges for drug-related crimes. Guillermo Endara then took the role as the President of Panama.