Noriega and New World Order

31/10/2025 50 min
Noriega and New World Order

Listen "Noriega and New World Order"

Episode Synopsis

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! The U.S.-led military coalition that expelled Saddam Hussein's armies from Kuwait in 1990-91 is usually remembered as the first major conflict of a post-Cold War world. But it was not the first time during those heady days that the U.S. invaded a country to get rid of a dictator in the name of human rights and the rule of law. That was Panama in 1989, a short war that would seem relevant now, as the Trump administration seeks regime change in a different Latin American country, Venezuela. In this episode, historian Alex Aviña reminds us why the rise and fall of Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, a longtime CIA asset and drug trafficker, matters. Further listening: Trump and the Panama Canal w/ Jonathan Brown TR to Trump: America and Venezuela w/ Alex Aviña