Reply #4: While Its True Torrijos Wanted Good Things For The Panamian

[The Deacon]

People, he WAS a dictator. AND he had the bad judgement to keep around a pit bull named Noriega - who is probably the one who sabotaged Torrijos' helicopter, not the U.S. (though with his ties to George H. W. Bush's CIA I think its a good bet he had a little "technical assistance.")
You may be thinking of Arbenz, freely elected in Guatemala in the '50s, who was overthrown by a staged CIA coup after he had "exappropriated" United Fruit (owned by Coca-Cola) land (actually, he paid the value U.F.C. listed for tax purposes) to distribute to landless peasants.
The Bush Regime was also implicated in the failed coup attempt & later attempt at a recall of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela (any surprise why Chavez refers to Bush as "El Diablo"?)
As for the people forgiving us - I lived in both Panama & Guatemala back in the Seventies & I can only say that they frequently observe that the American people & the American Government may not be the same thing.