Panama, 1989 — dissident coup attempt

Event Summary

On 3 October 1989 Major Moises Giroldi led a coup attempt against the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, and briefly succeeded in capturing him, only for the revolt to collapse within hours. Giroldi, an officer who had helped suppress the previous coup attempt in March 1988, struck as Noriega was under intense United States pressure, indicted on drug charges and having just nullified an election he lost. The rebels seized Noriega at the Panama Defense Forces headquarters but hesitated over whether to hand him to the Americans, and while the United States, tipped off in advance by Giroldi's wife, blocked two roads it declined to intervene decisively.

That hesitation proved fatal: Noriega telephoned for help, loyalist troops of the elite Battalion 2000 were flown in via Tocumen airport, and they crushed the coup. Giroldi and ten others were tortured and executed in what became known as the Albrook massacre. The failure convinced Washington that Noriega could not be removed internally, directly precipitating the United States invasion of Panama that December, which finally captured him.