Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2019
On October 5, 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR or Commission) issued its long-awaited decision in the case of José Isabel Salas Galindo and Others concerning the United States. The case is related to the U.S. military intervention in Panama on December 20, 1989, which resulted in the ouster of General Manuel Noriega Moreno, the country's ruler at the time. This U.S. military operation—better known as “Operation Just Cause”—has been the subject of extensive commentary historically and wide reflection on the number of casualties, effects, legality, and scope.
1 See generally José Isabel Salas Galindo and Others (United States), Case 10.573, Inter-Am. Comm'n H.R., Report No. 121/18 (2018) [hereinafter Salas and Others]; Inter-Am. Comm'n H.R., Press Release, No. 258/18, IACHR Publishes Report No. 121/18, Case 10.573—José Isabel Salas Galindo and Others, Concerning the United States (Dec. 3, 2018), http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2018/258.asp.
2 See, e.g., Ved P. Nanda, The Validity of United States Intervention in Panama under International Law, 84 AJIL 496, 496–502 (1990); John Quigley, The Legality of the United States Invasion of Panama, 15 Yale J. Int'l L. 284–310 (1990); R.W. Apple Jr., Fighting in Panama: The Implications; War: Bush's Presidential Rite of Passage, N.Y. Times (Dec. 21, 1989), https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/21/world/fighting-in-panama-the-implications-war-bush-s-presidential-rite-of-passage.html.
3 Salas and Others, supra note 1, ¶ 1.
4 Id. ¶ 6.
5 Id. ¶ 1.
6 Id. ¶ 5.
7 Id. ¶¶ 113–20; G.A. Res. 44/240, Effects of the Military Intervention by the United States of America in Panama on the Situation in Central America (Dec. 29, 1989); Human Rights Watch, Human Rights in Post-Invasion Panama: Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied (1991); Physicians for Human Rights, Operation Just Cause: The Human Cost of Military Action in Panama (1991).
8 See Santo Domingo Massacre v. Colombia, Preliminary Objections, Merits and Reparations, Judgment, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 239, ¶¶ 23–24 (Nov. 30, 2012); Inter-Am. Comm'n H.R., Truth, Justice, and Reparation: Fourth Report on Human Rights Situation in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 49/13 ¶¶ 203–39 (Dec. 31, 2013).
9 Salas and Others, supra note 1, ¶¶ 323, 332.
10 Id. ¶ 389.
11 Id. ¶¶ 111–12.
12 See The Environment and Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC 23/17, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., Series A No. 23 ¶¶ 81–104 (Nov. 15, 2017); Inter-Am. Comm'n H.R., Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendent Communities and Natural Resources: Human Rights Protection in the Context of Extraction, Exploitation, and Development Activities, OEA/Ser.L/V/II. Doc. 47/15 ¶¶ 77, 80 (Dec. 31, 2015).
13 Salas and Others, supra note 1, ¶¶ 312–13.
14 See generally Rosa Celorio, Discrimination and the Regional Human Rights Protection Systems: The Enigma of Effectiveness, 40 U. Penn. J. Int'i L. (forthcoming 2019).