On December 15, 1989, nearly two years after he was indicted by two U.S. grand juries on narcotics trafficking and money laundering charges, General Manuel Noriega strode triumphantly to the podium of Panama's National Assembly. His puppet legislature had just declared him “Maximum Leader of National Liberation” and head of government, and the Assembly proceeded to pass a resolution declaring Panama “to be in a state of war” with the United States. Wielding a machete over his head, Noriega boasted: “We the Panamanian people will sit along the banks of the canal to watch the dead bodies of our enemies pass by.”
Thus began the immediate chain of events that triggered the U.S. strategic manhunt for Noriega, Operation Just Cause.
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