(PanamaAmerica) A twenty one years ago on December 20, 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega. The aftermath of the violence still remain, said Tirso Castillo, a criminologist from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Panama.
According to Castillo, with the invasion opened the door to organized crime, as the number of weapons left in the streets gave rise to organized gangs. He noted that by 1989 only five gangs operating in the capital city and they were well controlled by the Defence Forces, while today, between the districts of Panama and San Miguelito there are 445 organized gangs.
In his view, another component that has penetrated as a result of the destruction of security sectors has been the drug, used by gangs to distribute their goods. Meanwhile, for the leader of El Chorrillo, Hector Avila, the Panamanian government should require the U.S. to answer for the human and material losses they caused.
He said that the only thing that stopped the invasion was pain for those people who today do not know where you got the body of his fallen family, many of which had nothing to do with the ousted Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega.