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{{Military
| color=#99CCFF
| country= Panama
| image= [[Image:Flag of Panama.svg|200px]] 
| caption=
| age= 85 years
| availability='''''Males age 15-49:''''' 761,568 (2000 est.)
| service='''''Males age 15-49:''''' 521,487 (2000 est.)
| reaching age='''''Males:''''' 344,575 (2005 est.)
| active= 432,800
| branches= Servicio Aereo Nacional<br>([[Air force|National Air Service]])<br>Servicio Maritimo Nacional ([[Navy|National Maritime Service]])<br>Policia Nacional<br>([[Army|National Police and Army]])
| amount= USD 132 million
| percent GDP=1.6% (FY97)
}}

[[Panama]] is one of the two countries in [[Latin America]] (the other being [[Costa Rica]]) that have permanently abolished standing military forces.  This came as a result of a US invasion that overthrew a [[military dictatorship]] which ruled the country from [[1968]] to [[1989]]. The final military dictator, Manuel Noriega, had greatly embarrassed the US president, the first George Bush, when American media exposed his long history of drug trafficking with US government knowledge. Many American conservatives had also long been hostile to Panama's military dictators because, in contrast to most Latin American dictators who favored the political right in the United States, Panama's military dictators were leftists.

==History==
===The National Police===
Panama's first army was formed in [[1903]], when the commander of a brigade of the [[Colombia]]n army defected to the pro-independence side during Panama's fight for independence.  In [[1904]], the army tried to overthrow the government, but failed.  The [[United States]] persuaded Panama that a standing army could threaten the security of the [[Panama Canal Zone]].  Instead, the country set up a "National Police."  For 48 years, this was the only armed force in Panama.

However, starting in the late 1930s, the National Police attracted several new recruits who had attended [[military academy|military academies]] in other Latin American countries.  Combined with increased spending on the police, this began a process of militarization.  The process sped up under [[José Antonio Remón Cantera|José Remón]], who became the Police's [[commandant]] (commanding officer) in [[1947]].  He himself had graduated from [[Mexico]]'s military academy.  He began promoting fewer enlisted men to officer rank, giving the police a more military character.

===The National Guard===

After playing a role in overthrowing two [[president of Panama|presidents]], Remón resigned his commission and became president himself in [[1952]].  His first act was to reorganize the National Police along military lines with a new name, the '''National Guard.'''  The new grouping retained police functions as well.  With a new name came increased American funding.

In [[1968]], the Guard overthrew President [[Arnulfo Arias]] in a coup led by [[Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Omar Torrijos]] and [[Major]] [[Boris Martínez]].  They completed the process of converting the Guard into a full-fledged army.  In the process, they promoted themselves to full [[colonel]].  Torrijos thrust Martínez aside in [[1969]], promoted himself to [[brigadier general]], and was de facto ruler of the country until his death in a [[1981]] plane crash.

===The Panamanian Defense Forces===

Torrijos was eventually replaced by [[Manuel Noriega]], who merged all of Panama's armed forces under his command as the '''Panamanian Defense Forces.'''  He built the PDF into a well-trained force, and further consolidated the dictatorship of Torrijos.  Under Noriega, the PDF was a feared tool of repression.

However, it was no match for the United States when it [[United States invasion of Panama|invaded Panama]] and overthrew Noriega in 1989.

===Panamanian Public Forces===
On [[February 10]], [[1990]] the government of then President [[Guillermo Endara]] abolished Panama's military and reformed the security apparatus by creating the Panamanian Public Forces.  In October [[1994]], Panama's Legislative Assembly approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting the creation of a standing military force, but allowing the temporary establishment of a special police unitstemporal military to counter acts of "external aggression."  

The PPF includes the National Police, National Maritime Service, and National Air Service and an armed Institutional Protection Service or SPI for protection of public buildings.

Law enforcement units that have been separated from the public force, such as the Technical Judicial Police, also are directly subordinate to civilian authorities. The public force budget, in contrast to the former PDF, is on public record and under control of the executive.

== Further reading ==
* ''Military Foundations of Panamanian Politics,'' Robert C. Harding, Transaction Publishing, 2001.
* ''The History of Panama,'' Robert C. Harding, Greenwood Publishing, 2006.

{{North America in topic|Military of}}
{{South America in topic|Military of}}

[[Category:Military of Panama| ]]