Looking Back on the US Invasion of Panama

This January marks the anniversary of the conclusion of Operation Just Cause, which began days before Christmas, on December 20th, 1989, when about 27,000 US troops deployed to Panama. Their mission was to capture Panama’s notorious dictator, General Manuel Noriega, whom the US had indicted for drug trafficking. Noriega had also been suppressing unarmed demonstrators, gathering intelligence on the local population, and harassing Americans- wielding weapons from the Soviet bloc. International Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa was an intelligence officer on the ground during the invasion, and he takes us from the first mortar to the moment when Noriega surrendered to US forces.

You can listen to Looking Back on the US Invasion of Panama online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Looking Back on the US Invasion of Panama is an episode from SpyCast by SpyCast.

This episode is 40:41 long.

This episode was published on Jan 27, 2026.

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