From Noriega to Maduro: US Intervention and Leader Removal

The BBC reports that the US operation in Venezuela is compared to the overthrow of Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989.

The US operation with Delta Force in Caracas to remove the president has no modern precedent. The arrest of Manuel Noriega in 1989 by US special forces is the closest analogy.

In both cases, the leaders had declared victory in disputed elections and were accused of drug trafficking. They were also preceded by military concentrations of American forces in the area.

Noriega surrendered after "psychological warfare" with loud rock music and was convicted in the US for drug offenses.

Details are not yet available for the operation against Nicolás Maduro, but it appears to have succeeded in removing the president and his wife without ground forces.

Maduro's fate remains unclear, but it is estimated that he could end up in an American correctional facility.

The Noriega case followed a short war. He took refuge in the Vatican embassy and eventually surrendered.