Essay on Panama: Panama and Nixon Order Noriega

Submitted By anjali727
Words: 586
Pages: 3

Panama is the southernmost country of Central America. Panama is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest and Colombia to the southeast of the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The Capital of Panama is Panama City. Panama forms a natural isthmian bridge, and it joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The country Panama is 100% tropical. The temperature over there is around 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of four seasons, which we have here in the United States, Panama only has two. There is a really dry season that falls between the months of December through April and there is a rainy season which is from May to September. In Panama, Spanish is the official language but most Panamanians also speak English fluently. The Currency Panamanians use is Balboa and Dollar. Panama is the most industrialized country in Central America and even its third largest economy. Panama has the lowest population in the Central America, though being the most industrialized country in Central America. Around 70% of the population is a mixture of Europeans and Native Americans.
About 85% of the people in the country are Catholics and the remaining 15% Protestants. Baseball is the most common sports in the country, along with boxing and soccer.
Manuel Noriega:
Manuel Noriega was born in a poor section of Panama City in 1934. He graduated the school Chorrios Military Academy in Peru in 1962 with a degree in engineering. Returning to Panama, he became a sub lieutenant in the National Guard. He became involved with U.S. intelligence activities. In 1971 he went to Havana, Cuba, at the request of U.S. president Richard Nixon to obtain the release of crewmen of two American ships seized by Fidel Castro's government. At this time Noriega was already involved in drug deals. A high-ranking drug enforcement officer recommended that President Nixon order Noriega's assassination, but Nixon did not follow through. As head of G-2, Panama's military intelligence command, Noriega was the second most powerful man in Panama. In 1975 G-2 agents rounded up businessmen who took away his property, and sent him to exile in Ecuador. In June 1987 Noriega's former chief of staff, Colonel Roberto Diaz Herrera, stated that Noriega had fixed the 1984 election and ordered the killing of Hugo Spadafora, who had publicly accused