''The Panama Deception'' is a 1992 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, critical of the 1989

United States invasion of Panama The United States invaded Panama in mid-December 1989 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. The purpose of the invasion was to depose the '' de facto'' ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, who was wanted by U.S. authorities for rack ...

. The film was directed by Barbara Trent, written and edited by David Kasper, and narrated by actress

Elizabeth Montgomery Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American actress whose career spanned five decades in film, stage, and television. She portrayed the good witch List of Bewitched characters#Samantha Stephens, Samantha Step ...

. It was a production of the Empowerment Project, and won the 1992

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Academy Honorary Award, Special Awards to ''Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. The ...

Summary

The film recounts the events which led to the invasion, the death and destruction caused by the invasion, and the aftermath. The film is critical of the actions of the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

. It also highlights the media bias within the United States, showing events that were unreported or systematically misreported, including downplaying of the number of

civilian casualties A civilian casualty occurs when a civilian is killed or injured by non-civilians, mostly law enforcement officers, military personnel, rebel group forces, or terrorists. Under the law of war, it refers to civilians who perish or suffer wounds ...

. The film also argued that the true purpose of the invasion was to prevent the then-scheduled retrocession of the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

to Panama as agreed in the

Torrijos–Carter Treaties The Torrijos–Carter Treaties () are two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which superseded the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain contro ...

, rather than the stated justification of removing

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno ( , ; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially serv ...

from power due to his indictment in U.S. courts on racketeering and drugs trafficking charges. Panama ultimately gained full control over the Canal Zone on December 31, 1999, fulfilling the terms of the Torrijos-Carter agreements. The film states that the U.S. government invaded Panama in order to destroy the PDF, the

Panama Defense Forces The Panama Defense Forces (; FFDD), formerly the National Guard (of Panama) (), were the armed forces of the Panama, Republic of Panama. It was created in 1983, led by Panama's dictator General Manuel Noriega and his general staff. It was disma ...

, which were perceived as a threat to U.S. control over Panama, and install a government which would be friendly to U.S. interests. The film includes footage of what are claimed to be mass graves uncovered after the American troops had withdrawn and footage of burned-down neighborhoods, refers to the alleged use of experimental weapons, including supposed secret laser or beam type weapons, and presents depictions of some of the 20,000 refugees who fled the fighting.

Production

The documentary was completed on a $300,000 budget provided by funding from

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded ...

, J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation, the Rex Foundation, the Peace Development Fund, the

National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is a left-wing progressive activist group and the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partners ...

, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, the Vanguard Public Foundation,

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

, and other donors. The film was banned in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, and in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the ...

banned it from being broadcast. Several individual

PBS member stations This is a list of member stations of the PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, a television network, network of non-commercial educational television stations in the United States. The list is arranged alphabetically by state and based on the station' ...

such as WNYC-TV,

WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS List of PBS member stations, member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Affiliated stations and facilities WGBH-TV is the Flagship (broadcasting), ...

, and KQED-TV defied the ban to broadcast it anyway.

References

External links

''The Panama Deception''
at the Empowerment Project *Watch
The Panama Deception
' at the C-SPAN Video Library * * * 1992 films American independent films Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Documentary films about American politics Documentary films about journalism Documentary films about war American documentary films George H. W. Bush administration controversies Films about the United States Marine Corps Panama–United States relations United States invasion of Panama Films shot in Panama Documentary films about Latin America Documentary films about war crimes 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language documentary films {{war-documentary-film-stub

Summary

Production

See also

References

External links