Editing Panama (section)

====Post-1970====
[[File:Omar Torrijos with Panamanian farmers.jpg|thumb|[[Omar Torrijos]] (right) with farmers in the Panamanian countryside. The Torrijos government was well known for its policies of [[land redistribution]].]]

Under [[Omar Torrijos]]'s control, the military transformed the political and economic structure of the country, initiating massive coverage of social security services and expanding public education.

The constitution was changed in 1972. To reform the constitution, the military created a new organization, the Assembly of Corregimiento Representatives, which replaced the National Assembly. The new assembly, also known as the Poder Popular (Power of the People), was composed of 505 members selected by the military with no participation from political parties, which the military had eliminated. The new constitution proclaimed [[Omar Torrijos]] as the Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution, and conceded him unlimited power for six years, although, to keep a façade of constitutionality, [[Demetrio B. Lakas]] was appointed president for the same period.<ref name="Pizzurno Gelós 1989"/>

In 1981, Torrijos died in a plane crash.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/02/obituaries/panama-leader-killed-in-crash-in-bad-weather.html|title=PANAMA LEADER KILLED IN CRASH IN BAD WEATHER|last=International|first=United Press|work=The New York Times|date=August 2, 1981|access-date=June 1, 2018|language=en|archive-date=August 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817120658/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/02/obituaries/panama-leader-killed-in-crash-in-bad-weather.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Torrijos' death altered the tone of Panama's political evolution. Despite the [[1983 Panamanian constitutional referendum|1983 constitutional amendments]] which proscribed a political role for the military, the [[Panama Defense Forces|Panama Defense Force]] (PDF), as they were then known, continued to dominate Panamanian political life. By this time, General [[Manuel Noriega|Manuel Antonio Noriega]] was firmly in control of both the PDF and the civilian government.{{when|date=May 2016}}

[[File:Jimmy Carter and General Omar Torrijos signing the Panama Canal Treaty.jpg|thumb|US President [[Jimmy Carter]] shakes hands with General [[Omar Torrijos]] after signing the [[Torrijos–Carter Treaties|Panama Canal Treaties]] (September 7, 1977).]]
In the [[1984 Panamanian general election|1984 elections]], the candidates were:
* [[Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino]], supported by the military in a union called UNADE
* Arnulfo Arias Madrid, for the opposition union ADO
* ex-General [[Rubén Darío Paredes]], who had been forced to an early retirement by Manuel Noriega, running for the Partido Nacionalista Popular (PAP; "Popular Nationalist Party")
* Carlos Iván Zúñiga, running for the Partido Acción Popular (PAPO; Popular Action Party)
Barletta was declared the winner of elections that had been considered to be fraudulent. Barletta inherited a country in economic ruin and hugely indebted to the [[International Monetary Fund]] and the [[World Bank]]. Amid the economic crisis and Barletta's efforts to calm the country's creditors, street protests arose, and so did military repression.

Meanwhile, Noriega's regime had fostered a well-hidden criminal economy that operated as a parallel source of income for the military and their allies, providing revenues from drugs and [[money laundering]]. Toward the end of the military dictatorship, a new wave of Chinese migrants arrived on the isthmus in the hope of migrating to the United States. The smuggling of Chinese became an enormous business, with revenues of up to 200 million dollars for Noriega's regime (see Mon 167).<ref>Mon Pinzón, Ramón Arturo (1979). ''Historia de la Migración China Durante la Construcción del Ferrocarril de Panamá''. Masters Thesis. México: El Colegio de México.</ref>

The military dictatorship assassinated or tortured more than one hundred Panamanians and forced at least a hundred more dissidents into exile. (see Zárate 15).<ref>Zárate, Abdiel (November 9, 2003). "Muertos y desaparecidos durante la época militar." Extra-centennial issue of ''La Prensa''.</ref> Noriega's regime was supported by the United States and it began playing a double role in Central America. While the [[Contadora group]], an initiative launched by the foreign ministers of various Latin American nations including Panama's, conducted diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the region, Noriega supplied Nicaraguan [[Contras]] and other guerrillas in the region with weapons and ammunition on behalf of the CIA.<ref name="Pizzurno Gelós 1989"/>

On June 6, 1987, the recently retired Colonel Roberto Díaz Herrera, resentful that Noriega had broken the agreed-upon "Torrijos Plan" of succession that would have made him the chief of the military after Noriega, decided to denounce the regime. He revealed details of electoral fraud,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Preston |first=Julia |date=July 6, 1987 |title=PANAMANIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR PROBE |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/07/06/panamanian-president-calls-for-probe/34559ca5-6139-4669-8ff5-dcd056b9b7ca/ |access-date=March 22, 2022 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> accused Noriega of planning Torrijos's death and declared that Torrijos had received 12 million dollars from the Shah of Iran for giving the exiled Iranian leader asylum. He also accused Noriega of the assassination by decapitation of then-opposition leader, Dr. [[Hugo Spadafora]].<ref name="Pizzurno Gelós 1989"/><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 21, 1989 |title=Fighting in Panama; Panama's Troubled Past |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/21/world/fighting-in-panama-panama-s-troubled-past.html |access-date=March 22, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322030333/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/21/world/fighting-in-panama-panama-s-troubled-past.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On the night of June 9, 1987, the Cruzada Civilista ("Civic Crusade") was created{{where|date=May 2016}} and began organizing actions of civil disobedience. The Crusade called for a general strike. In response, the military suspended constitutional rights and declared a state of emergency in the country. On July 10, the [[Civic Crusade]] called for a massive demonstration that was violently repressed by the "Dobermans", the military's special riot control unit. That day, later known as El Viernes Negro ("Black Friday"), left many people injured and killed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=Meghan |date=March 28, 2010 |title=Panamanians campaign to overthrow dictator (The Civic Crusade), 1987-1989 |url=https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/panamanians-campaign-overthrow-dictator-civic-crusade-1987-1989 |access-date=April 30, 2022 |website=Swarthmore.edu |publisher=Swarthmore |archive-date=May 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513215929/https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/panamanians-campaign-overthrow-dictator-civic-crusade-1987-1989 |url-status=live }}</ref>

United States President [[Ronald Reagan]] began a series of sanctions against the military regime. The United States froze economic and military assistance to Panama in the middle of 1987 in response to the domestic political crisis in Panama and an attack on the US embassy. The sanctions failed to oust Noriega, but severely hurt Panama's economy. Panama's gross domestic product (GDP) declined almost 25 percent between 1987 and 1989.<ref name="Acosta, Coleen 2008">Acosta, Coleen (October 24, 2008). [https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Panama%20Imperialism%20and%20Struggle.htm "Iraq: a Lesson from Panama Imperialism and Struggle for Sovereignty"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003220042/https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Panama%20Imperialism%20and%20Struggle.htm |date=October 3, 2021 }}. ''Journals of the Stanford Course on Prejudice and Poverty''.</ref>

On February 5, 1988, General Manuel Antonio Noriega was accused of drug trafficking by federal juries in Tampa and Miami. [[Human Rights Watch]] wrote in its 1989 report: "Washington turned a blind eye to abuses in Panama for many years until concern over drug trafficking prompted indictments of the general [Noriega] by two grand juries in Florida in February 1988".<ref name="Panama">[https://www.hrw.org/reports/1989/WR89/Panama.htm "Panama"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113164637/https://www.hrw.org/reports/1989/WR89/Panama.htm |date=January 13, 2017 }}. ''Human Rights Watch World Report 1989''. hrw.org</ref>

In April 1988, US President Ronald Reagan invoked the [[International Emergency Economic Powers Act]], freezing Panamanian government assets in all US organizations. In May 1989 Panamanians voted overwhelmingly for the anti-Noriega candidates. The Noriega regime promptly annulled the election and embarked on a new round of repression.

[[File:Panama clashes 1989.JPEG|thumb|The aftermath of urban warfare during the [[United States invasion of Panama|US invasion of Panama]], 1989]]