Panama

The Strange Story of David Baez, Green Beret, and Sandinista Officer

One of the most bizarre stories to come out about Central America was the strange saga of David Baez. Baez was born in Nicaragua but became a U.S. citizen and later a Green Beret. Baez’s father was a military officer in Nicaraguan National Guard before being executed by the military’s leader Anastasio Somoza.

Baez grew up an intense hatred of the Somoza’s and their regime and later while serving as a Green Beret in Panama with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, he’d leave the military to return to Nicaragua to join the Communist Sandinista regime to fight the troops of Somoza.

Greg Walker is an author and former Green Beret from 3/7 SFG who was one of the 55 advisors in El Salvador back in the same time frame. He has written an outstanding two-part story that gets to the truth of a very outstanding NCO in Special Forces that ended up fighting against the U.S.-backed Contras and for our enemy, the Sandinistas in the early 1980s.

Prologue: Operation Patuca River, Honduras, 1983
On July 19, 1983, a group of 96 Marxist guerrillas with extensive training in Cuba and six months of combat conditioning in Nicaragua fighting U.S.-backed Contras, successfully infiltrated Honduras on foot after crossing the Coco River by boat.

The mission was planned and led by Dr. Jose Reyes Mata (“Commander Pablo Mendoza”), a well-known and highly-respected Honduran icon in the Latin American Marxist-Leninist community. The newly-formed Armed Forces of the People, or FAP, was a multi-national revolutionary army made up of Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, and two North Americans. Reyes Mata, an original founder of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, Honduras (PRTC-H) under whose umbrella the FAP fell, had fought in Bolivia during the second attempt by the survivors of Commander Che Guevara’s disastrous 1967 effort to overthrow that South American country’s government. Captured, Reyes Mata was sent to prison until escaping to nearby and revolutionary-friendly Chile.

In Chile, he continued to promote and refine for export Che’s “foco theory” of revolution, a theory he hoped to personally plant the seed of in Honduras. Making his way to Nicaragua, he participated in the 1979 victory of the Sandinista FSLN guerrilla war against President Anastacio Somoza Debayle, thereby earning great favor with the new Marxist government in Managua as well as in Cuba where he was a welcome visitor and, at times, a resident.
Christened “the March of Liberty toward Victory,” the column, organized into four platoons, was to establish a series of logistical FAP base camps in Honduras from which to begin additional local recruiting, training, and finally to conduct guerrilla operations against the government and armed forces of Honduras. The FAP was to be the regional vanguard movement with expected support from the external PRTC forces in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.
Instead, in just two months, the column would be brutally annihilated by the elite Honduran Special Forces Squadron in close cooperation with its military intelligence sister unit, Battalion 316.
This NEWSREP three-part series relies upon current declassified documents, the extensive investigative efforts of both Honduran and U.S. media outlets, the declassified war diary of Dr. Reyes Mata, and personal recollections of those with first-hand knowledge of what took place in the rugged Olancho province of Honduras, as well as at the joint U.S./Honduran air base at El Aguacate.
Much has been speculated about–and written about–Operation Patuca River. To paraphrase SAS veteran Mike Coburn, author of the book “Soldier Five–The Real Truth About the Bravo Two Zero Mission,” retired Special Forces soldier Greg Walker offers: “It’s important to portray events as they really happened. Not only because the success of Operation Patuca River crushed a nascent civil war in Honduras, but because so many related to several of the FAP column have since searched for answers regarding their loved ones, regardless of their ideology, and to date found no resolution as to what happened to them.”
It begins with the family and friends of David Arturo Baez Cruz, the only known Green Beret to have willingly left his family and military career in 1980 to join the Sandinista Popular Army (EPS) in its fight against the Contras, and in 1983 against the Honduran Army as an FSLN combat adviser to the FAP.
Part One
Arturo was obsessive. He wanted to contribute something to the overthrow of the Somozas. For him it was like a sense of mission, especially after the death of [our] dad at the hands of the Somozas. He did not know him, but he grew up with ‘So, you’re Baez Bone, you must have ‘guevon’ [“big balls”] like your dad.” – Eduardo Baez, brother and former Sandinista officer
David Arturo Baez Cruz was born on December 19, 1950, in Jenotepe, Nicaragua. His father, Adolfo Baez Bone, was a young lieutenant in Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza Garcia’s National Guard. His grandmother, whose surname was Bone, was Guatemalan. In 1947, Adolfo was expelled from the National Guard along with other officers who had supported President Leonardo Arguello over Somoza Garcia.
On April 4, 1954, Adolfo and his brother, Luis Felipe Baez Bone, along with 23 others, sought to overthrow President Somoza Garcia by assassination. Also to be killed were the president’s two adult sons, Luis and Anastasio, the latter better known as “Tachito.” On the eve of the attack, to be led by Adolfo, an informer betrayed the conspirators, and all were arrested and imprisoned. Adolfo was personally beaten and tortured by Tachito for four agonizing days before he was fatally shot. Luis was also killed as were the others. Their bodies were burned and then secretly buried in a mass unmarked grave. In an eerie forecast of things to come, Adolfo was reported to have spat in Tachito’s face and warned him, “My blood with chase you!” before his execution.
Growing up Nicaraguan
“He [Arturo] grew up sleeping in the room where the closet held his father’s remains in a wooden trunk. The bones were eventually buried, but not Baez’s hatred for the Somozas. He always had something in his head about avenging his father.” – Eduardo Baez, brother and former Sandinista officer
Friends of the families of those murdered eventually located the mass grave. Adolfo’s remains were identified–despite having been burned–and his bones were brought to the family. They were hidden away until it was deemed safe to bury them properly. Today, in Managua, there is a monument to the “Heroes of April 4, 1954” with all 25 names of those considered martyrs inscribed on it.

To read the complete article, click here:

Photo of ODA-5 Panama and Baez: Robert K. Brown

Don’t Poke the Bear Especially With Special Forces Troops

“And Don’t Shoot the Goddamn Beanbag Lights”

One of the best perks of this position is that in trying to read all the news concerning the military and Special Operations around the globe every day, everyone now and then something triggers. And as you’re reading something having to do with 1158th Special Operations Squadron of East Overshoe doing a big train up or operation, it will remind of an operation or funny event, long forgotten from days of yore.

So, as many of our readers here at SpecialOperations.com know, the United States invasion of Panama (was it really an invasion? Since we had a slew of bases there), “Operation Just Cause” began on December 20, 1989. And as I said, a lot of the troops that were to take part were already there.

But what many don’t know, is that the invasion…er attack on Noriega’s Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), nearly happened 18 months prior. And before everyone gets all OPSEC on me here, this isn’t breaking any of that. It is just the background to what ultimately transpired.

Our company in the 7th Special Forces Group (7th SFGA), had just returned from a deployment to Honduras in the early spring of 1988. As soon as we got back the entire battalion was placed on alert and briefed that we were going to conduct an emergency re-deployment to Honduras…uh huh. We were broken down into “training committees”, Sniper, Machine gun and Assault Team committees were assigned and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going down and where. I personally was thrilled, my warrant packet had disappeared into the bowels of the headquarters, and I was put on a levy for SWC and the schoolhouse. Anything to put that off for a bit.

We went thru a training cycle and as a member of the Machine gun “training committee” we weren’t rehearing any lesson plans but doing a shitload of firing. We had a nice blend of SAWs and M-60s and we spent as much time debating over where we were going as who was the sorriest machine gunner. That’s because in the Type A personality of Special Forces, every guy KNEW he was the best…LOL.

One beautiful spring morning, we went back out to the range and got our briefing on what would transpire that day. North Carolina only has a handful of these clear, crisp perfect spring mornings before the weather jumps right to mid-summer and the red clay of Ft. Bragg turns it into an Easy Bake Oven.

It was a good day, everyone was motivated, happy to be preparing to go back on another deployment and shooting a bunch of lead down range. What more can anyone ask for? Plus we were doing it with everyone from the entire battalion, which we never did. So, yes everything was as good as it gets. But little did we know that things would get crazy later that night.

The plan was to do range firing in the morning for the gunners, get the AGs (assistant gunners) some range time in the afternoon and then do a night shoot with NODs that evening. So, as the Team Sergeant who was running the range ran thru the schedule of events for the day, we all listened and were gathering all of our crap for the day, as the MSG finished up, he was mentioning the night fire. And with our NODs, the left and right limits would be set up using IR beanbag lights.

Just then one of our Sergeant Majors chimed in, “And don’t shoot the goddamn bean bag lights!” he barked out. Everyone just kind of chuckled but he wasn’t joking. “I mean it, I don’t want to see one of these fucking lights get damaged,” he said with his voice raising an octave higher. We all hushed up and glanced at one another like “WTF was that all about?”

I didn’t know this Sergeant Major, he had just come back from being at Delta, but the guys I knew and trusted all said, that this SGM was a good dude and a kickass, pipe-hitting operator. I don’t know if he was just having a bad day, or his dog bit him but that was a bit surprising.

Out on the range that day, I was next to my good bud Victor V. who was one of the most genuine good guys in SF. Victor was always in a good mood, had a smile always on his face and was universally liked by everyone he came in contact with. We went thru the Q-course together and I knew him to be an excellent Radio Operator (18E).

We were both firing SAWs and as the afternoon was wearing on, Victor was encouraging his AG (whose name escapes me) and then imitating the Sergeant Major he kept yelling, “Don’t shoot the goddamn beanbag lights!” which in his Puerto Rican accent made it seem funnier than it probably was.

That night we sat around waiting for it to get dark enough to do our night firing, we got our safety briefing followed by another rant by the Sergeant Major about firing up the beanbag lights. We were all looking at each other trying to figure out where all of this shit was coming from. One of the Weapons guys from B Company said, “I never even gave it a second thought, thinking what a stupid thing to say….Now, I’m blasting me a beanbag light.”

So here we were, a bunch of steely-eyed Green Berets and unspokenly, we knew what was going to transpire. We had just declared war on those damned IR beanbags. We turned on our NODs and Ft. Bragg turned into that marvelous shade of baby-shit green. As the firing started, I guess no one wanted to be the first… But a few seconds later, someone fired a burst and you could see a tracer round blast the farthest beanbag light on the left (our side) of the range. One by one the beanbag lights were extinguished as SAW and M-60 rounds thudded into them.

By the time we were finished only one beanbag light was left. The echoing of the guns was still reverberating thru the night sky. Just then, a single six-round burst from an M-60 cut the remaining light off. “OOOPs, so sorry,” came a laconic, sarcastic voice from the right-hand side of the range. You could hear everyone chuckling as the Range Tower, which housed the Sergeant Major unleashed a torrent of “MotherFuckas” at everyone.

He was still hot later as we policed up our brass. Our company commander walked up and asked what was that all about. Several of us retold the entire event chain from start to finish. “Why in the hell would he do that,” our commander asked? “The quickest way to get you guys to do something is to tell you NOT to do it,” he added walking away.

Well, our “emergency redeployment to Honduras” got called off shortly after. But our team did go back there in a few months. My orders for the SWC schoolhouse would have to wait on my return. I went to see Sergeant Major Murray (RIP) who did all the assignments. “I really need guys who are O&I qualified for the committee,” he said. Smiling I told him that I was O&I qualified… “That’s great, he said. “But I really need guys here,” he said pointing to a spot on his big board. SFOT. “We’re starting up a Selection Course and that’s where you’re going.

After about a year at SFOT/SFAS, my warrant packet was miraculously found, and off I went to Ft. Rucker and back to Bragg for the SF Officer Course. And then a follow-on assignment to 3/7 SFG down in Panama. And much rejoicing was had by all…

Photo: US Army

Kids Are the Same Everywhere and Say the Darndest Things

To our readers who are attempting for a career in Special Operations, you’ll meet all kinds of interesting people everywhere you go. Some societies are eclectic, like our own. Others are very regimented, but one thing that will never change, no matter where you travel are kids.

As Americans we have a built-in affinity for kids, we love kids, and will stop most anything we’re doing and talk to or help kids out. Of course, our enemies know this and they can and have used kids against us at times. But it doesn’t change our outlook on kids and hopefully, it never will. But kids are universally funny and can also be of great assistance in local areas as well.

There was a television show hosted by Art Linkletter from 1952-69, called House Party and every show, he’d air a segment called “Kids say the Darndest Things.” And here are a few funny anecdotes from back in the day that some of you may enjoy.

Recently we posted a piece and mentioned our team from 3/7th SFG getting tasked with fixing a school during our Christmas “break” in training while in the country of Bolivia. While we working on renovating the school, the parents in the town, volunteered to help out with the labor. This one young couple were both helping out at the school and had two very young kids a boy and a girl. And somehow both got attached to me. Of course, as most of the locals in the town were of the Aymara Indian descent, they’re rather vertically challenged. We must have seemed like giants to them.

They would follow me around everywhere and if I sat down, both of them would climb in my lap. Every morning the little dude would wait and soon as he would see me, he’d snap to attention and give me a salute. Of course the guys on the team thought that was funny. “Hey Chief, how much are you paying that kid, to salute you?” or the better one was, “we had to travel 4000 miles for Chief to find someone to salute him.”

The parents would bring their lunches with them and all four would take a break together around noon. The teachers at the school always put something together for the A-Team every day and it was always good. One day, I asked the parents to take the kids inside to eat with us. The three of us shared a chair and once the school teachers saw the kids, we had a junk food lunch, with too many sweets and soda. The little boy looked at me and said, “Do you eat like this every day? I want to have lunch with you from now on…”

Just a few years ago, I was working on a personal security mission that traveled to several countries in the Middle East. We had a few weeks where our clients were visiting Egypt. It was a fascinating place, somewhere that had been on my personal bucket list and despite working, I was happy to see much of what I dreamed about seeing back as a kid.

We went to visit a place in the center of Cairo where kids went to school and worked alongside adults for part of the day. As we gathered outside and were preparing to shuffle everyone inside, a group of street urchins, about 10 in all and very young approached. The oldest and the leader of the crew couldn’t have been more than 10, the rest were younger, with the youngest probably only about five.

By the way he was dressed, the leader of the kids pegged my partner as an Englishman. And he sidled up to him and spoke pretty decent English, much better than my few words of Arabic. He said, “excuse me, sir, could I please have a cigarette?” My bud Tom didn’t say a word but just shook his head. The kid nonplussed said, “God save the Queen.”

Now as for myself, this kid had me pegged right off as an American. Maybe it was the ballcap. But his entire schtick was different. “Hey Joe, you give me a Marlboro eh?” When I told him that I don’t smoke, either the answer shocked him that some people don’t smoke or he didn’t believe me. But his answer was completely different.

“Yes…well f**k George Buuush then!” he said. I laughed and told him he wasn’t President anymore and that Obama was. “Hey Joe, f**k him too!” Cracking up, I gave him a dollar and they scattered.

But perhaps the best one on how kids are so in tune with things going on locally happened in Panama. One night we were waiting to get picked by two helicopters on a small landing zone. It was pitch dark and we moved into the small clearing waiting for the choppers to come in.

Out of nowhere come two kids on ancient bikes with the old wicker baskets on the handlebars, circa 1950s style. They had ice cold Cokes inside and were hawking them for a quarter.

We shushed them out of there as it was dangerous for the kids with choppers coming in. So, the first chopper comes in, and we load and take off. We fly for about 10-15 minutes, do a false insertion and then land at another LZ. We move to the edge of the jungle and waited for the second to come in.

A few seconds later we heard that familiar swooshing sound and the same two kids, all out of breath, and sweating comes tearing into the LZ from the dirt road. They asked in Spanish if we wanted a Coke now. Sure thing kid. What the hell.

We did get some good intel from young kids at times in Bolivia that told us where drug labs were and sometimes where people were stashing the precursor chemicals but those were rare. In Robin Sage, the kids who worked for the SF auxiliary in the Uwharrie National Forest were already pros at drawing maps and detailing where the “enemy” positions were. The enemy troops, in this case, were 82nd Airborne troops and the kids would wander up under the guise of saying hello and being in awe of the troops and come back and drew detailed sketches of their positions and were their crew-served weapons were.

So for you young guys coming into the pipeline, don’t discount kids for their intelligence value, both for you and against you. But like we said at the outset, they’re the same everywhere and they do say the darndest stuff.

Photo: US Army

Special Operations Highlighted the Early Hours of Operation Just Cause

In the early hours of December 20, 1989, 28 years ago, the United States began operations against Manuel Noriega and the Panamanian Defense Forces in Operation Just Cause.

During the opening hours of the US operation, several US Special Operations units conducted operations to rescue American Kurt Muse from the notorious Modelo Prison, stop Noriega from leaving the country by disabling his aircraft, seizing the two main airports at Panama City and Rio Hato by an airborne operation and by stopping his troops, specifically his armored unit [Battalion 2000] from reaching the capital of Panama City and influencing the immediate takedown of his government and military hierarchy.

The plan, minus the Muse rescue was actually rehearsed in the spring of 1988 when conditions between the Noriega Panamanian government and the US deteriorated to the point that the US was ready to move. A year earlier it would have been a surgical Special Operations only mission with very little conventional troops involved. In 1989 it would be a full complement of conventional troops to include elements of the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), the 7th Infantry Division (Light) and the 82nd Airborne Division as well as units stationed in Panama.

Operation Acid Gambit – The Rescue of Kurt Muse: Muse was an American who grew up in Panama, got married and moved back after his service in the military was over. His wife was a DOD schoolteacher. He was arrested and thrown in Modelo Prison for running a covert anti-Noriega radio station in May of 1989. One Panamanian newspaper reported that Muse was a CIA operative.

President Bush decided to that a rescue of Muse was the course of action after receiving a letter that was smuggled out of the prison but a US military doctor that was allowed to treat him.

The Army’s Delta Force began rehearsing a raid on the prison on a mockup they built at Eglin AFB, Florida from notes supplied by the doctor. They moved to Panama undetected and began preliminary plans to raid the prison. Shortly after midnight on the 20th, 23 Delta operators boarded four MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopters and landed on the roof of the prison.

Delta Little Bird of 160th Special Operations Aviation that crash landed in a Panama City street.

Delta Snipers quickly eliminated sentries in the area as well as the Comandancia (Noriega’s Headquarters) across the street. At that moment, two Air Force C-130 Spectre Gunships began shelling the Comandancia to get attention away from Modelo Prison.

One operator climbed down the side of the building to a window outside Muse’s cell to eliminate the guard who was tasked with killing him as a soon as a rescue attempt was begun.

The breaching team blew the door to the roof and the extraction teams started down the stairs two floors to Muse’s cell. The Delta operators eliminated two guards and bound another who was not armed and did not resist. Muse saw the beams of their flashlights and saw the smoke. Just then he heard an American voice tell him to take cover. Delta operator Pat Savidge tried to shoot the lock off, but it stood up and had to be cut off with bolt cutters supplied by Delta’s Kelly Venden. Savidge told Muse “Merry Christmas and gave him body armor, goggles, and a Kevlar helmet. They moved back up to the roof.

Once on board the MH-6 that was called back for extraction, the now overloaded Little Bird began nose diving for the street, 60 feet below. The pilot regained control just a few feet off the ground and they flew along the street putting distance between themselves and the prison just a few feet off the ground. After setting down in a courtyard, the pilot was going to attempt to take off again. Savidge and Venden didn’t buckle in during the tumult.

As the chopper lifted off, it took serious ground fire. Venden was hit in the chest and toppled out of the helicopter 20-30 feet to the ground. Savidge attempting to save his friend, grabbed ahold of his gear to hold onto him and was pulled out as well. The Little Bird was peppered with fire and crashed on its right side. The skid pinned Delta operator James Sudderth’s ankle. All four operators were wounded but Muse and the pilots were fine.

The Delta operators got to the most defensible position and prepared to protect Muse. About 15 minutes later they signaled a passing chopper with an IR strobe light. They relayed their position by radio and an armored vehicle of the 5th Infantry Division came shortly after and picked everyone up and brought them to safety.

Bloody Action At Punta Paitilla Airfield: The Navy SEALs were tasked to destroy Noriega’s aircraft at the airfield. This mission fell to SEAL Team 4 with 48 operators. The SEALs under the command of LtCdr Patrick Toohey landed just south of the airfield at 0030 hrs on the 20th.

By 0105 hrs, they were in position, however security elements reported that Panamanian V300 Cadillac Gage armored cars were rapidly approaching the airfield. Toohey sent a squad to set up a blocking position but as soon as they began moving, the Panamanians at the airfield opened fire killing one SEAL and wounding five others. The other SEALs reinforced the troops under fire and in the resulting firefight, suffered two more killed and four more wounded. They disabled Noriega’s plane with an AT-4 rocket.

During the night, they rolled an aircraft into the middle of the runway to keep the airfield from being used. The wounded were MEDEVAC to Howard Air Force Base. The SEALs secured the airfield until mid-morning when they were relieved by a company from the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Noriega’s private plane after Navy SEALs destroyed it with a rocket launcher

Meanwhile, four SEALs using Draeger rebreather systems swam from Zodiac assault craft to plant explosives on Noriega’s heavily armed gunboat, Presidente Porras. They swam under the boat planted the explosives and then were shot at by Panamanian guards who dropped grenades into the water. The SEALs swam to the pier and hiding under it, could watch the gunboat be disabled by the explosions. They later swam back out into the canal where they were picked by rubber assault craft.

Rangers Seize Rio Hato, Tocumen Airports: The 2nd and 3rd Ranger Battalions were tasked with seizing Rio Hato airfield, destroying the PDF garrison at the base, [the largest in the army] and seizing Noriega’s plush beach house.

At H-hour, two F–117A stealth fighter-bombers delivered two 2,000-lb. precision bombs in an attempt to stun and confuse the PDF garrison of two heavily armed infantry companies defending the airfield.They missed. The precision munitions succeeded in only waking the defenders.

Thirteen C-130s flying from the US dropped the Rangers into a maelstrom of fire from just 500 feet. Moving and assembling quickly despite the incoming fire, two companies of Rangers moved to take the airfield, cut the Pan-American Highway running through it, and seize a nearby ammunition dump.

Meanwhile, another company attacked a nearby NCO academy complex and another struck the two PDF companies deployed to defend the airfield.The PDF defending the airfield were claimed to be Noriega’s best and the firefight was furious. Two Rangers were killed and four wounded when a helicopter gunship raked them in a friendly fire incident. But within five hours, the entire complex was secure to include Noriega’s beach house.

Outside of Panama City, Torrijos [Tocumen] Airport, the site of the national commercial airport, the 1st Ranger Battalion jumped in to seize it and secure it for follow-on forces. The Rangers suffered just two wounded while Panamanian casualties were slight, with just 5 killed and 21 captured. The 82nd Airborne Division about an hour after the Rangers secured the airfield arrived and began jumping in.

Special Forces Seize Pacora River Bridge Stop Bn 2000: The men of A Co. 3rd Bn 7th Special Forces Group who were stationed in Panama were tasked with keeping surveillance on Fort Cimarron, home of Bn 2000, the only armored unit in Noriega’s army. Under the command of Major Kevin Higgins, A-3-7 was told of the departure of 10 vehicles from Cimarron and he and 24 Green Berets were moving to the Pacora River Bridge to stop the convoy from reaching Panama City.

The Blackhawk helicopters flying to the bridge got lost on the way but they flew over the armored column rapidly approaching the bridge. The SF troops got to the western side of the bridge just as the Panamanians reached the eastern side. The slope to get up to the bridge was steep and the heavily laden SF troops were just getting to the bridge when they were illuminated by the headlights of the Panamanian vehicles. SFC “Tico” Roman and SFC Dana Bowman were among the first men on the bridge and they blasted the lead vehicle with AT-4s. That stopped the convoy in its tracks. But the SF troops were armed mostly with M-16s, M-249s, and M-203s. Higgins didn’t hesitate. He called in AC-130 Spectre gunships fire, dangerously close to his men and the gunships decimated the column. The Panamanians tried to get away from Spectre by crawling under the bridge. But the SF troops raked the girders with machine gun fire and buckshot rounds with M-203s. The running firefight lasted most of the night with the Panamanians trying to flank the SF troops, who were augmented by elements of A Co. 1st Bn, 7th SFG from Ft. Bragg during the night. They finally linked up with members of the 82nd Airborne later the next afternoon after their Sheridan armored reconnaissance vehicles got moving from the airport.

Operation Just Cause was far from a smooth operation, there were still glitches in communications, and many units couldn’t talk to one another. Coordination between Special Operations and conventional units was shaky at times and non-existent at others. Despite this, different elements of our Special Operations Forces were laying the groundwork for interacting with one another that would bear fruit in later conflicts. The troops’ use of Air Force Special Operations gunships which supported ground troops across the board became invaluable. Those airmen along with their Combat Controllers have become an extremely sought after asset. While many of the troops involved with a few months later move to the desert for Desert Shield/Storm, many of the SF troops remained and assisted Panama with the switch over from the PDF to the PNP [Panamanian National Police].

Photos: DOD

Noriega Surrendered to Rock in Panama Invasion 1989

Panama’s former dictator Manuel Noriega died in prison this week at the age of 83. Few, outside of his inner circle of military officers will shed a tear for the man who ruled Panama with an iron hand before his undoing by US forces during “Operation Just Cause” in late December of 1989.

With his military shattered and running out of options. Noriega sought refuge in the Papal Nuncio, the Vatican Embassy in Panama City. Many of his officers and cronies were already arrested and put on planes to Miami to answer to drug charges.

Rather than staying in relative peace and quiet, Noriega was blasted by rock music, loud rock music, around the clock as the US tried to force him to give up. The soldiers playing the music began taking requests from troops coming in from the field.

The favorites included “Welcome to the Jungle,” by Guns N’ Roses, “Wanted Dead Or Alive,” by Bon Jovi, and “The End” by The Doors.
After several days on the run, Noriega was allowed to enter the Vatican Embassy on Christmas Eve. And on Christmas Day, the radio station broadcast only Christmas music.
But with requests streaming in, the U.S. effort ramped up after the holiday.
On Dec. 27, “someone who identified himself as a member of the PSYOPS [Psychological Operations] team from Fort Bragg [N.C.] called to tell us what they were doing with their loud speakers,” the military report said.
U.S. Gen. Maxwell “Mad Max” Thurman had ordered speakers placed as a “musical barrier” around the perimeter of the Vatican Embassy and turned to full volume.
Noriega was reportedly partial to opera. What he got was “Panama,” from Van Halen, “Danger Zone,” from Kenny Loggins, and “Refugee,” courtesy of Tom Petty.
And remember, this was the ’80s. So the strongman also got an earful of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” though that may have been intended more for Noriega’s hosts at the embassy.
As the standoff dragged on for days, the playlist became part of the story.
Not everyone was happy with the military’s approach, including the White House, and the music was stopped after several days. President George H.W. Bush’s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, said afterward that he thought the use of high-volume music was “undignified.”
On Jan. 3, 1990, Noriega surrendered to the U.S. forces, though not until after he’d been treated to a version of “I Fought The Law.”
Noriega was flown to Miami, tried and convicted of drug trafficking, and spent nearly two decades in U.S. prisons.

The entire musical interlude while waiting for the disgraced strongman to surrender placed a surreal, farcical quality on an operation and short war that never needed to happen. Noriega’s blustering caused the deaths of far too many Panamanians, the exact number may never be known as well as 23 Americans.

The entire article and interview from NPR can be found here:

Featured Photo: AP