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PANAMA CITY, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The last time Panamanian Juan Rodríguez's home planted a Christmas tree was 34 years ago.
On December 19, 1989, Juan's family was in full swing as everyone prepared for the next series of family gatherings: Christmas was approaching, and the 27th was the 25th birthday of Juan's brother Alejandro. On the 19th, Alejandro returned from school, brought gifts for his mother, and went out to visit friends.
In the early morning of December 20, 1989, the United States sent elite troops to brazenly invade Panama. The headquarters of the Panamanian military is located in the Chorillo district of Panama City, where Alejandro went that day, and after the bombing by the US military, the Chorillo district was full of rubble and a large number of civilians were killed and wounded.
From that day on, Alejandro never returned home. "I never had a Christmas tree in my house since. Juan said.
After the bombing, U.S. forces set foot on Panamanian soil and overthrew the government at the time, naming the invasion "Just Cause," claiming that it was a military operation to "protect the lives and property of American nationals."
The aggressive actions of the United States have been strongly condemned by the international community. In a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that year, the United Nations General Assembly stated that this action was a flagrant violation of international law and a violation of Panama's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
This is the tombstone of the victims of the US invasion taken at the "Peace Garden" cemetery in Panama City, the capital of Panama, on December 15. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Haogan
In 2016, the Panamanian government established the Commission of 20 December 1989 to investigate the truth. In the view of Rolando Murgash, chairman of the committee, the United States' aggression against Panama is the same as its previous intervention in Latin American countries, which is to achieve its geopolitical goal and control the Western Hemisphere under the banner of the "Monroe Doctrine." "When the U.S. military invaded Panama under the banner of 'protecting the diaspora,' it was our people who were killed or wounded. ”
At present, the Commission has compiled a list of more than 400 victims. The youngest on this list, who is only 1 month old, and the oldest is 82 years old, and most of them are civilians like Alejandro.
Juan was only 12 years old when Alejandro disappeared. Because of his young age, his mother did not let him go out with his other brothers to look for him, but when he was young, he felt the cruelty of war with his sense of smell. "My brothers walked around the city's morgues and hospitals, and they came home every day with the smell of blood. ”
Juan remembers that his brother Alejandro was enthusiastic about public welfare activities, could dance salsa, and appeared on TV, and always liked to carry the young Juan on his shoulders and let him experience "how Superman flies...... But with the invasion of American troops, Alejandro never returned home.
This is a statue photographed on December 15 in Panama City, the capital of Panama, with a sign in front of the statue that reads "In memory of the victims of December 20, 1989." Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Haogan
In a photo later recovered by Juan's family, U.S. soldiers were photographing Alejandro's body, who was lying on the road, his shirt soaked in blood. "We haven't found Alejandro's body yet, the Americans don't let the Red Cross collect the body, and we don't know where the Americans took him. ”
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had asked the United States to compensate Panama for its aggression in 2018. "The United States refuses any compensation because they want to sell concepts and convince us that this is a 'just cause' and that they are here to 'save' us. Murgas said.
The death of his brother became a permanent pain for Juan's family, and his mother underwent years of psychotherapy, and the family kept silent about Alejandro's past......
On December 15, in Panamanian City, the capital of Panama, a man pushes a stroller past a memorial stele that reads "Remember December 20, 1989." Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Haogan
In recent years, the "December 20, 1989 Commission" has been searching for the remains of unidentified victims of the US invasion and re-identifying them through DNA testing and other means, and Juan hopes that they will be able to recover Alejandro's body.
"It's not just for us, the families of the victims, but for the history of the whole country," he said, "and I want the young people of Panama to know and remember this history." ”
On December 20, 2022, Panama held its first National Day of Mourning, with flags lowered at half-mast to commemorate those killed in the 1989 U.S. military operation against Pakistan. The Panamanian Ministry of Education has also begun to include the history of the U.S. invasion of Panama in textbooks. (Reporter: Chen Haogan, Yu Lizhen; Editors: Wang Zhao, Ban Wei, Xie Lin, Wang Jiansheng, Chen Dan, Diao Ze, Shen Haoyang)