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Panama establishes truth commission into 1989 U.S. invasion

Xinhua, July 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Panama on Wednesday officially established a truth commission to delve into the still murky events surrounding the 1989 U.S. invasion that removed General Manuel Noriega from power.

Panama's Vice President and Foreign Affairs Minister Isabel de Saint Malo presided over the ceremony to install what is being called the December 20 Commission.

"There can be no reconciliation without the truth, without recording the collective memory in black and white," Saint Malo said.

The commission reflects "the state's commitment to human rights and national identity, not political interests," Saint Malo added, according to the daily La Estrella de Panama.

The five-member body will have two years to complete its task, which is mainly "to determine the number and identity of the victims and study reparation proposals," the daily said.

On Dec. 20, 1989, some 26,000 U.S. troops invaded Panama as part of what Washington called Operation Just Cause to capture Noriega, who surrendered three days later. He was taken back to the United States and convicted of drug trafficking.

There are no exact figures of victims, but different sources place the toll at anywhere between 500 and several thousand.

The United Nations claims around 500 civilians died in the invasion, but the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights says the figure is closer to between 2,500 and 3,000.

The invasion marked the end of Panama's military dictatorships (1968-1989).

Commission members include Svetlana Ines Jaramillo, Maribel Jaen Cocheran, Rolando Murgas Torrazza, Enrique M. Illueca and Juan Planells Fernandez, who will serve as its president.

There is a proposal to declare Dec. 20 a day of national mourning and open a museum dedicated to the invasion, depending on the group's findings.

Ministers, activists and relatives of the victims attended the ceremony.

Then U.S. President George H.W. Bush justified the invasion to, among other things, safeguard the lives of Americans in Panama, where the United States maintained numerous military bases around the Panama Canal, then under its control. Endi