The Panama Deception

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Movie
Original title The Panama Deception
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1992
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Barbara Trent
script David Kasper
production Empowerment Project
music Chuck Wild , Steve Yeaman
camera Manuel Becker , Michael Dobo
cut David Kasper

The Panama Deception is an American documentary from 1992. It addresses the US invasion of Panama ( Operation Just Cause ) in 1989 from a decidedly left-wing liberal perspective . The filmmakers Trent and Kasper criticized the "total collaboration " of the US press in particular and television with the George HW Bush administration . Although the film received an Oscar for documentary films in 1993 , it was apparently neither shown nor broadcast on television in the Federal Republic of Germany .

action

The film is a montage of historical and contemporary footage as well as interviews with representatives of the Pentagon , the US Army , in particular General Maxwell R. Thurman , at the time of the invasion the commander of SOUTHCOM , Panamanian citizens as well as US journalists and political scientists .

In the first part of the film, the relationship between Panama and the USA since the state was founded in 1903 is thematized as an act of American gunboat policy . The Colombian province was converted into a de facto protectorate of the USA, with the Panama Canal Zone being given the character of a directly administered colony as a lease area . According to the filmmakers' interpretation, the construction of Panama was an act of imperialist American politics in the context of Theodore Roosevelt's big stick policy .

In the second part of the film, Trent and Kasper question the goals of the invasion claimed by the Bush administration. The official target was the arrest of Manuel Noriega , who was charged with drug trafficking in the USA . The film authors point out the close connection between the drug transfer from Colombia to the USA, the support of the Nicaraguan Contras by the CIA and Noriega, and the partial financing of the Contra war with drug money. The role of Oliver North in the Iran-Contra affair and his connections to Noriega are also discussed. According to Peter Kornbluh, Noriega's information was more important to the CIA than his drug trafficking activities.

Trent and Kasper claim that Noriega's arrest was just an excuse. In fact, drug exports from Panama to the USA increased even further after 1989. The real goal of the invasion was the destruction of the Panamanian armed forces, the Fuerzas de Defensa de Panamá ( English : Panamanian Defense Forces = PDF). So that should Torrijos-Carter Treaties be undermined from 1977, the Panama the acquisition of the expiry of the 1999 Panama Canal zusicherten; but only on condition that Panama is also able to defend the canal itself, which is not possible without its own armed forces .

The authors also question the number of victims of 400 people published by the Pentagon and the US media; in fact, several thousand people died as a result of the fighting. In addition, the invasion violated international law. Civilians were run over by tanks in their cars and PDF members captured were shot dead in the Balboa Concentration Camp without trial.

Production background

Kasper and Trent had already researched the Contra War with their documentaries Destination Nicaragua (1986) and Cover Up: The Iran-Contra-Affair (1988) . To support their new film, they recruited research consultants and a. Peter Dale Scott , David MacMichael, Doug Vaughan, Mark Hertsgaard and Peter Kornbluh .

reception

At the 1993 Academy Awards , The Panama Deception received the Oscar for documentary (feature-length). The presentation was done by Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington .

Lore

A DVD edition was released in 2007 . As bonus material there are several interviews with Trent, Kasper and other people involved in production.

Web links