‘Why pick a battle over this?’: Trump’s threats over Panama Canal reopen wounds over 1989 US invasion
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Hundreds of people were killed during Operation Just Cause. Trump has stoked fears the US could invade again. For Isabel Corro, Donald Trump’s suggestions that the US could use military force to take control of the Panama Canal evokes painful memories.
![[black and white image of a dozen children alongside a tank on a road]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4b6a6a1c25567f15a95bbdf340918f17437eabea/0_0_2048_1393/master/2048.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The 79-year-old vividly recalls rushing her children inside her apartment on 20 December 1989 as US army helicopters and fighter jets screamed over Panama City, turning buildings to piles of rubble with rockets and gunfire. Corro’s stepfather, a police officer, was killed in the invasion; his body was not found until it was hauled from a mass grave the following year.
![[Bleak, burned urban landscape]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0e40b308aa71b49e7e7bdd9af61ee8eb12e591cc/39_79_4238_2830/master/4238.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“I remember that night. The city was quiet, the houses full of decorations and the entire country was in anticipation of Christmas. Then suddenly, helicopters were whirring around and the sky was lit up with bombs and gunfire,” Corro said. “It was an extremely violent and tragic night. One that unfortunately I will never forget.”.
![[View of two helicopters flying low amid high rise buildings, seemingly taken from another helicopter.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8c8132b135e7f4fb9bdd431aff0bd49b8fe35d5e/0_0_2964_1936/master/2964.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Washington had once backed then president Manuel Noriega – an ally who had spied for the CIA – but George HW Bush sent in 10,000 troops to oust the dictator as his role as an international drug kingpin became apparent. Hundreds of people were killed – many of them civilians – during Operation Just Cause and the shadow of the invasion still looms large over Panama. Trump’s comments have stoked fears the US could once again set its military sights on the country.
![[Two army soldiers on a tank, with the words Merry Christmas written in chalk on the side]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/63db3357c7168c035a7efa769f17f555c3f4c819/0_0_2948_1947/master/2948.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“He is a very arrogant man who thinks he can take whatever he wants,” said Corro, president of the Association of Family Victims of the 1989 US Invasion of Panama. “He cannot just decide: ‘I’m going to buy this country, I’m going to invade this one.’ The world is not some big flea market. It should not happen and we will not let it happen.”.
