Here in the song Panama in the late 1980s wouldn't be all that weird.

It had such memorable lyrics like Hot Chew burning down the avenue, got an on ramp coming

through my bedroom.

And Panama was the last hit single, the band Van Halen recorded with their lead singer,

David Lee Roth before he left the band in 1985.

Except it would be weird if you were the dictator of a Latin American country, and you

were hiding out in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City, and the American military would not

stop playing.

You see on December 20th, 1989, the United States invaded Panama.

President Bush sent out American troops there mainly to capture General Manuel Noriega,

the self-proclaimed, maximum leader of the country.

The United States had a complicated relationship with the military dictator of Panama.

Sometimes Noriega had been an ally, but sometimes he wasn't.

In the late 80s, Noriega, or La Pena, or pineapple face because of his pockmark skin, was

increasingly a problem because he played both sides.

Sometimes he helped the United States by providing information to its intelligence agencies,

and sometimes he tipped off drug cartels.

In 1988, two federal courts in the United States indicted Noriega on drug trafficking charges.

The general had also canceled the results of Panama's 1989 presidential election.

And in December of 1989, Panamanian troops shot and killed an unarmed American soldier in

Panama City.

That was it for President George H.W. Bush.

...