Invasion (Invasión)

- Ready. - Go ahead.

I was cleaning my room.

It was almost midnight. I was putting things into the drawers.

I had the radio on.

The broadcast was interrupted, and some American voices came on,

people speaking Spanish, saying things like "Alpha," "Charlie,"

speaking in code.

I understood right away that we had been invaded.

Do you know why?

Because before that, I had had a dream

in which I was looking out from my balcony,

and I saw an image of Jesus in the sky, very big.

He looked sad, and he was shaking his head "no."

And I said, "Lord! Forgive us!"

But he just shook his head. "No".

When I left the room, I heard, "¡ta-ta-ta!"

The bombardment was a block away from my house.

The shooting had started. You could see flares.

You could hear planes, flying above the house.

Lots of people running, crying and looking for a place to hide.

I remember that sound. No Panamanian could ever forget it.

The sound of the bombs falling… It was something like…

I don't know where they came from,

but suddenly helicopters were all above us, and it sounded…

The people were shouting, "Invasion! The gringos!"

And I asked, "What do they want?" "They want Noriega out!"

My wife Leslie was pregnant, almost full-term,

and with each bomb there was a contraction.

It was incredible. Bomb, then 'urgh'!

There were so many things happening in front of you.

You could simply sit down in a chair, a soldier would walk by,

a wounded person, people carrying 3 or 4 Betamaxes…

People started walking by my house, carrying televisions, stoves,

They were breaking into all the shops on 50th street.

The looting had begun.

I never would have imagined that these people

were physically and biologically capable of carrying what they were carrying.

I got to my house with a bag of sneakers.

There were people who didn't dare to go into the shops,

and I made it easier for them.

"Give me whatever you want for that, 5, 10, 20 dollars…"

And we were there as if we were at a good party.

We exchanged books,

"Give me that Cervantes, take this Dostoyevsky."

You could say it was a very sad Christmas,

but at the same time very juicy for everyone from El Chorrillo,

because they had food, their Christmas dinner, and all of that.

Our family story is that when Sammy was born,

Noriega surrendered an hour later.

It was at about four in the afternoon, or something like that.

And I don't know the exact time that Noriega surrendered

in the Vatican embassy, which was close by…

You could hear the rock music from the hospital.

There were loudspeakers directed upwards,

and downwards towards the Vatican embassy.

Very high-powered speakers.

You could hear the music from half a mile away.

I liked it, but I imagined that it was torture for him.

They were the heaviest rock songs of the time,

but some of them contained messages.

"Bang Your Head" by Quiet Riot,

"Come On Feel the Noise," which we used to listen to in those days,

"Welcome to the Jungle," by Guns and Roses.

I never thought he would surrender.

I never thought he would surrender.

I thought he would kill himself first.

Because in those days, I might have done that myself.

I might have done that myself.

I confess that I cried in that moment.

And I cried for quite a while.

Because it was then that I really felt

a feeling of triumph and relief at the same time.

Nobody here knows exactly why the invasion happened.

Was it to overthrow Noriega? No. Others think differently.

How are you going to seize and destroy a country

just to bring down one man? That's outrageous!

It should be noted that before the invasion,

first, there was a very corrupt, drug dealing, criminal dictator… Noriega…

who was also involved in arms trafficking.

But second, that criminal, as corrupt as he was,

was supported by the CIA, the DEA,

and the mastermind… George Bush Senior.

Any ordinary person was nauseated by this dictatorship,

but also nauseating were the US policies that made it possible.

The US Congress decides not to spend more money to overthrow governments,

whether they were communists or not,

and then Bush, the CIA, the DEA, and any other espionage service,

allowed drug dealers from Medellin and Cali, in Colombia,

with Noriega as chief manager,

and Coronel Oliver North as strategic manager,

to send drugs to the US freely, like commercial enterprises.

As simple as "half and half."

Noriega began as a US agent.

Then they got "divorced."

The marriage didn't turn out to be very happy.

Everyone has a different story about what happened.

But it was very sad to see happen in your own country

things that you usually see on TV.

It's different when you live through them yourself.

I don't understand why the invasion is not taught in schools nowadays.

We're deleting topics from History,

and Geography in schools.

Why don't we speak about the invasion with students?

You hear a lot of stupidities around that day.

The date of the invasion should be a day of national mourning.

Whatever the reasons, many people were killed,

from this side and also from the other.

But nobody cares.

This background works for me too, but let's stick with this other one here.

Let's go with this one. The dead over here...

And the camera over there where you're standing.

- How many do we have? - 9.

- What's that? - To put on your finger.

Scary...

I could get in one if you want.

- Who will film then? - Lara.

OK, so let's say you're in one...

One, two, three, four, five...

Let's go see... Here's another person to ask.

Should we ask him?

We're shooting a scene of a documentary about the invasion.

We're missing one person.

Do you want to make some money with that?

If you feel like it.

Do you have some water?

Yes, I have some. I have water.

Did you see... Were you here during the invasion?

No, I was in Cerrillo.

Sorry, I meant to ask if you were in Panama.

Did you see when they were picking up the dead?

Yes, they were all over from 27th street to 21st street.

- Were there many dead? - Yes.

- How did they pick them up? - They would throw them.

- Throw them? - Yes.

We're not reenacting it Hollywood style.

So it doesn't matter if you can tell that it's a live person.

We just want the symbolism of picking them up.

But you need to close them up, they look too open.

OK! Ready?

Everybody keep still!

Action!

Roberto? Do you mind if we put a microphone on you real quick?

Go ahead.

Where were you during the invasion?

We were in a place, in a bar,

and a friend of mine had come over.

He came from the US for a show. He's a singer.

He went to my house and gave me two tickets.

Ulises?

Ulises was his name.

Better without the drink.

It's just water.

After midnight my wife arrived.

I had some money and I was spending it,

and she said, "Honey, let's go home, there's an invasion!"

I figured my wife just didn't want me there spending money.

And I said, "Go away, I'm going to spend my own money!"

She said, "No, honey there's an invasion!"

"I don't believe that crap!", I said.

She went away crying and said, "If they kill you it's your problem."

My wife left and I kept drinking.

Ulises' show started.

And then Enanitos Verdes were going to play.

My buddy went outside because there was some noise.

Then he comes over and says, "We better go home, buddy!

There really is an invasion."

I asked, "What are you talking about? Invasion?"

Did my wife talk to you?"

"No buddy, come on," he said.

We left the bar and you really could see the explosions.

"Look up," he said.

And when I looked, I saw red, blue and black.

He said to me, "Let's go home, because this is an invasion."

And I was drunk and shouting,

"These gringos come here to screw with us!"

A buddy of mine had given me a machine gun.

"Give me a machine gun, I'm going to defend Noriega!"

Then I went to my house and got out the machine gun.

I shouted, "I'm going to defend Noriega!"

My sons grabbed me and tied me up, and said, "Dad, you're crazy."

If they hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here today.

- You were really going out? - Yes, I was drunk.

I shouted, "I'm going to defend Noriega!"

They grabbed me, tied me up,

and the next day I woke up next to the bed, still tied up.

After the invasion, they were looking for Noriega everywhere.

The dignity battalions would come to assault and rob houses.

I grabbed the machine gun, and stood out in the street.

"I'll kill whoever messes with us! I don't care!"

I started taking care of all the neighbors,

and those same neighbors who I defended

started saying that I was hiding Noriega in my house.

How many people died in the invasion?

Many, many people, man.

There were people shot in the head, big holes like this.

A father dead with his son in his arms.

A whole family burned in a car.

It was bad, bad…

Bad, bad…

I was watching everything on the street.