Human rights body calls for compensation for US invasion victims

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has once again asked the United States to compensate the victims of the 1989 invasion of Panama for multiple human rights violations, says a 91-page report released Friday, November 16.

The IACHR considers that the United States “is responsible” for the violation of the right “to life, liberty, security and integrity of the person.”

It also accuses Washington of violating the rights for  the protection of children, property, and justice,

For this reason, the IACHR  has asked the United States to “fully repair the human rights violations established in this report, both materially and immaterially.”

In addition,  it “must adopt measures of economic compensation and satisfaction,”

Over 27,000 US soldiers invaded Panama in 1989 to capture then dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, who was wanted by a Miami court on drug charges.

Officially, the number of deaths during the invasion was  500, although human rights organizations raise the number to over 4,000. Many buried in unmarked mass graves

In the IACHR report, reference is made to 315 victims, who would now have to be compensated by the US.

The current Panamanian government created a Commission on December 20, 1989, to count and identify the victims, in addition to seeking national reconciliation.

The Commission is currently investigating 250 deaths.

It has also analyzed with the Supreme Court 10,000 thousand records of the time, a report of a cemetery with 124 identified bodies and has already begun to collect the first DNA tests.

The families of the victims demand that the United States compensate the country for the invasion and say where the mass graves are.

The commission plans to submit its final report in May 2019.

The first lawsuits before the IACHR against the United States for the invasion began in 1990.