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The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 216
“[d]uring the Watergate hearings in 1973, former White House counsel John Dean testified that
the White House had contracted E. Howard Hunt, “former” CIA officer and Watergate burglar,
to assassinate Omar Torrijos”. The assassination was ordered because Torrijos had been
uncooperative during Panama Canal treaty negotiations and because of the Panamanian
governments participation in drug trafficking.
837
Graham Greene, an American friend of Torrijos, was getting ready to visit Torrijos in
Panama when he got a telephone call reporting the news of the crash. A few days later Green
was phoned by Torrijos' security guard, Sergeant Chuchu, alias José de Jesús Martínez, who
stated: “There was a bomb in that plane. I know there was a bomb in the plane, but I can't tell
you why over the telephone.”
838
In 1987 Colonel Robert Díaz Herrera made the same claim but
he also named the CIA, US General Wallace Nutting, head of the US Southern Command in
Panama and Manuel Noriega as part of the conspiracy that led to the bombing of Torrijos'
plane.
839
Noriega had served under Torrijos. In 1970 he became head of Panamanian military
intelligence. In 1983, after Torrijos' death he took charge of the Panama's military and became
the most powerful man in Panama.
840
In 1984 the candidate Noriega backed for President,
Nicolás Barletta, was elected. The US Embassy in Panama carefully reviewed voting records and
reports and concluded that the election had been won by fraud. The US offered no objection
because it had backed Barletta as well. Secretary of State George Schultz attended the
inauguration and President Reagan invited Barletta to the Oval Office. In 1989 another case of
election fraud led to a US invasion of Panama.
In this instance the US had backed Noriega's opposition with $10 million in campaign
funds. When the ballot counting indicated that Noriega's candidate was loosing, Noriega put an
end to the election. This ultimately led to a US invasion of Panama under the premise that
Noriega was a wanted drug dealer. It is true Noriega dealt in drugs but the government had
known about it since 1971. The CIA had also had him on the payroll from the early 1970s until
1986. This included 1976 when George Bush was Director of the CIA and at which time Noriega
is reported to have been paid in excess of $100,000 per year. But it excluded Carter's term in
office (1977-81).
Noriega could have easily been arrested at anytime during these years. In 1983 he
received “the red-carpet treatment” when he visited Washington D.C. During his visit he visited
the White House, State Department, Pentagon and met personally for 4-hours with CIA Director
William Casey. Mother Jones reported that his drug indictment charges in 1988 were all for
crimes which occurred in 1984 or earlier. His drug dealing apparently ended in 1984.
841
According to the award winning documentary video The Panama Deception, the US
backed Panama’s PDF military forces in an attempt to capture Noriega and seize control of
Panama in 1989. In a swift assault the PDF easily captured Noriega and seized control of
Panama. The US’s role in the plan was to set up roadblocks to the capital to keep Noriega’s
forces out. The U.S failed to fulfill it’s obligation to the PDF and Noriega’s forces were able to
free him and return control of Panama to him. The US military's failure to block the roads seems
to have been a deliberate act indicating that their desire was for US military intervention in
Panama.
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