Noriega". Then, during the first days of October, there came the abortive US-sponsored coup
attempt, followed by the public humiliation of George Bush, who had failed to measure up to thestandards of efficacy set by Theodore Roosevelt.
All during October and November and into December, the Bush Administration worked to prepare
the plans for a large-scale invasion of Panama, Operation Blue Spoon. By mid-December, there
were a total of 24,000 Uabout 3,500 were organized and equipped for military combat. S troops in Panama, arrayed against the 16,000 of the PDF, of whom only
The US was now committed to a military attack. Beginning on January 1, 1990, according to the
US-Panama treaty, the head of the canal administration would have to be a Panamanian citizen,
proposed by Panama and approved by the US government. This was a transaction which Bushwished to conduct with a puppet state, and not with an independent government. In the light of (^)
transparent US preparations for a short-term invasion or other armed incursion, the National
Assembly of Panama passed a resolution of December 15 to take note of the state of affairs that had
now been forced upon Panama by Bush. The statement was designed to permit the assumption of
emergency powers by the Panamanian government to meet the crisis, and was in no way equivalentto a declaration of war under international law, no more than Bush's April 6, 1989 declaration of a
US state of emergency over the Panamanian situation had been. "The Republic of Panama," the
statement read, "has for the last two years suffered a cruel and constant harrassment by the US
government, whose president has made use of the powers of war...to try to subject the will of
Panamanians....The Republic of Panama is living undehounding of the US government, whose soldiers not only daily violate the integrity of the Torrijos-r a genuine state of war, under the permanent
Carter treaties... but trample our sovereign rights in open, arrogant, and shameless violation of the
pacts and norms of international law....Therefore be it resolved that the Republic of Panama be
declared in a state of war, for as long as the aggression unleashed against the Panamanian people by
the US government continues." [fn 43] TFitzwater was to minimize this declaration: "I don't think anybody hehe first comment from White House spokesman Marlinre considers it important
enough in terms of impact," Fitzwater told the White House press corps. It was only after Bush had
given the final order to attack that it was discovered that this statement had been another casus belli.
At this point, the US provocation activity was stepped up, with special attention given to theapproaches to Noriega's headquarters, the Commandancia. Here, at the Avenue A PDF checkpoint, (^)
on the evening of Saturday, December 16, Navy Lieutenant Adam J. Curtis and his wife Bonnie had
been detained as they chose to take an evening stroll in this very tense and highly sensitive
neighborhood. Their presence could in no way have been interpreted as purely casual. Then, while
Lieutenant and Mrs. Curtis were having their identity checked by the PDF, a car occupied by fourother "off-duty" American officers in civilian clothes drove up. These officers would later say that (^)
they had taken a wrong turn towards Noriega's Commandancia, where the cat and mouse game of
would-be kidnappers and their prey was known to go on at all hours. These US officers alleged that
the PDF guards had ordered them to get out of their car at gunpoint. But the US officers also
admitted that they attempted to depart from the area of the PDF checkpoint at high speed, and it isnot clear in which direction they were headed. The US officers' car did succeed in departing the
scene. At this point, according to the US account, the PDF guards opened fire and wounded Marine
Lieutenant Robert Paz, who is later reported to have died of his wounds at the US Gorgas Military
Hospital. Another US officer in the car was reportedly slightly wounded in the leg.
When Lieutenant and Mrs. Curtis were released by the PDF some four hours later, they alleged that
Lieutenant Curtis had been beaten, and Mrs. Curtis fondled and sexually threatened by the PDF.
These details, which may have been purely invented, were obsessively seized upon by Bush in his
public justifications of the US invasion. Published accounts indicate that the public affairs officer of
the US Southern Command suggested that Lieut. Curtis be interviewed on television to recount his