Chapter 1
This is a story of a rescue mission undertaken by the CIA and Delta forces of the United States of America. The way the operation was planned and executed along with the hurdles faced makes it one of the most daring rescue operations of all times. In this mission, Delta force has rescued an American CIA agent from the most secured and notorious prison of Panama where he was imprisoned.
Panama was ruled by a military ruler Manuel Antonio Noriega from 1983 to 1989. Born in a poor family in Panama City, Noriega became a military officer and with the passage of time grew in ranks to become chief of military Intelligence. After the death of the previous ruler Torrijos, Noriega became the de-facto ruler of Panama.
Noriega was a valued source of CIA and worked with them to track illicit weapons and drugs in Panama. He had made enough fortune for himself amassing the money by drug trafficking operations, but the US always ignored it as he was a useful CIA member. After the death of Torrijos, the US played a major role in instating Noriega as the ruler of Panama.
With time, Noriega became more authoritative. Gradually he started expanding his military and persecuted opposition with brutal force. He manipulated the election results and persisted military domination of the public. Noriega became the dictator of Panama.
Chapter 2
Noriega started distancing himself from the US and its democratic outlines after becoming dictator of Panama. He was seen as a nemesis in the US, as he no longer co-operated with the CIA.
There were reports of atrocities caused to the people by the military, but he managed to keep a large portion of the population loyal to him by propagating military nationalism. America was gradually getting distanced from Panama as Noriega was continuing with his dictatorship that saw an increase in illicit drugs and weapons making them worried.
Kurt Muse was born in Arizona and grew up in Panama. After marriage, Kurt returns to America and joins armed forces in America, while his wife worked as a teacher in the US department of defence. After completing his tenure with the military, he returns to Panama with his family and two children.
Kurt started gathering information about Noriega to dethrone him on the behest of the CIA. Kurt sets up an underground radio station in Panama with the help of CIA and starts broadcasting anti-Noriega messages amongst people.
Kurt and his five friends managed to hack the frequency of five most important radio channels of Panama using advance radio scanning equipment. They used this medium to transmit their anti-Noriega messages.
A huge crowd assembled at the Panama National Stadium to listen to their leader Manuel Noriega at the beginning of 1989. Just as Noriega was about to speak, Kurt and his friends transmit a two minute pre-recorded anti-Noriega message around the sound system starting “We are the free democratic people of Panama”.
Chapter 3
Noriega was furious with the conduct and ordered an enquiry. Next day a famous newspaper claimed that this propaganda was orchestrated by Kurt Muse. Orders to arrest Kurt Muse were issued immediately. Military police arrested Kurt and placed him inside high security and notorious prison named Cárcel Modelo.
Cárcel Modelo is the prison where the people opposing Noriega’s regime were imprisoned. This prison was initially built in 1925 to accommodate 250 people. Later in 1987, it was modified to accommodate 450 prisoners. During Kurt’s arrest, there were about 1000 prisoners already in this prison. He was confined to a small cell of 8 ft by 12 ft that only had a two-inch mattress.
Kurt spent nine months in prison, with the hope that someday someone from his country would come to rescue him from the confines of the prison. The American president George Bush Sr. was aware of this situation and was building diplomatic pressure on Panama.
Intense diplomatic pressure made Panama agree to allow a doctor to examine the health of Kurt in his cell on humanitarian ground. The attending doctor had a military background, and he examines the health of Kurt Muse.
Kurt had already written a letter mentioning the atrocities meted towards him before his health checkup, he gave that letter to the visiting doctor, and the doctor managed to smuggle out that letter, from the prison hiding it inside his blood pressure monitoring equipment.
The letter was received by the American President George Bush Sr. and in a high-level meeting; a decision was taken to rescue Kurt Muse from the prison in Panama at any cost.
Chapter 4
Receiving confirmation from the president, the military commanders select elite Delta force for this operation. 160th special aviation group and 1st special operation wing were also included in the operation to provide air support. Kurt muse was code-named as “Precious Cargo”, and the operation named as “Acid Gambit”.
A few days later, the CIA received an intelligence input, prison-guard had the instruction to shoot Kurt Muse, if any American activity was discovered in or around the prison. A large agitation against dictator Noriega took place on 3rd October 1989. That had prompted Noriega to transform the Cárcel Modelo into a military prison.
Heavily armed military guards prison replaced all the security guards of the prison. All the outer parameters guarded by military personnel. A security guard was posted in front of the cell of Kurt Muse and had the orders to shoot him down immediately in case of any rescue attempt.
Blueprints of Cárcel Modelo prison were obtained with the help of CIA, and the Delta team was given specific instructions about the location of the cell of Kurt Muse on the second floor.
Delta team recreates a model of the prison and starts rehearsing the rescue mission. A decision was taken that American apache helicopters would launch a surgical strike attacking the properties of dictator Noriega and divert the attention of Panama military.
Chapter 5
Headquarter of Panama defence force containing supply depot and military barracks, was located within half a kilometre of the prison perimeter. During the rescue mission, these military forces can reach the prison in 10 min.
The CIA agents start to investigate the surroundings of the prison compound, identifying the high rise buildings where American snipers could be deployed, in case of any emergency.
On 20th December 1989, after receiving confirmation from the American president, American apache helicopters launched attacks on the properties of Noriega inside Panama, and the conflict began. America dropped about 27,600 troops by about 300 plane sorties into Panama along with jeeps and other equipment.
Two MH6 helicopters painted in black colour takes off with a team of 10 commandos. MH6 helicopters were deliberately painted in black colour to avoid detection during the night. Two Apache helicopters and two C130 also took off in support of the mission.
These two MH6 helicopters, also known as Little birds drop the commandos on the terrace of Cárcel Modelo prison. Two C130 places start firing at the Military headquarter. For opening the terrace door silently, Delta force uses the charge stick tapes, but due to the humidity present in the atmosphere, these tapes were already damp and did not ignite.
Chapter 6
The commandos, climbs down the stairs and started proceeding towards the cell of Kurt Muse. One of the commandos finds the guard positioned outside Kurt’s cell and shoots him down. The entire hallway was filled with dark smoke.
On reaching the cell of Kurt Muse, they fire upon the cell door, but the door was heavy, and hence they used a small explosive to blow up the cell door. Kurt was surrounded by Delta force commandos and provided with bulletproof helmet and armour along with night vision glasses.
They took Kurt to the terrace where MH6 helicopter was waiting with five commandos. They put Kurt inside the helicopter, and the pilot takes the chopper off the terrace. Panama military personnel started firing at the helicopter carrying Kurt with heavy gunfire.
Helicopter loses its altitude and crashes down. All five commandos suffer injuries. The commandoes pull out Kurt from the chopper and take cover in a nearby building after securing its perimeter. One of the commandos reaches the terrace of the building and starts beaming the infrared light towards the sky.
The American gunship hovering over the sky, soon takes notice of the signal and reports back the co-ordinates to the command centre. Command centre instructs the 5th armoured brigade to rescue the commandos. Within minutes an American armoured vehicle arrives and rescue all the commandos and Kurt and flees the spot.
Chapter 7
One of the commandos conveys the message to the command centre that “Precious Cargo” is safe and secure, and it took six minutes to complete the rescue operation. Next day American forces were all over Panama searching for Manuel Noriega.
Manuel Noriega had taken refuge in the embassy of Vatican City in Panama. America started putting diplomatic pressure over Vatican City to release Noriega. But Vatican City refused to hand over the person. America then applies tactical pressure.
They set up a perimeter around the Vatican embassy and take out silencer of the vehicles and allow them to make loud noise throughout the day and night. They also set up loudspeakers around the building and started playing rock music throughout day and night. They knew that Noriega hates rock music.
After ten long days, on 3rd Jan 1990, Manuel Noriega surrenders to the American forces. America accepts him as a prisoner of war and takes him to back to America for trials. The trial against Noriega took place in Miami federal court.
On 10th July 1992, Miami federal court delivers the judgment against Noriega sentencing him to 40 years in prison.
Chapter 8
On 11th Dec 2011, Manuel Noriega was brought back to Panama to stand trial against murder and human rights violations. He spends five years in Renacor Prison of Panama. His health starts deteriorating and shifted from prison to house arrest.
Doctors examining Manuel Noriega admitted that he was suffering from a brain tumour and can barely survive a year more. On 29th May 2017, Manuel Noriega died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 83 years.
Thus one of the most daring operation, code-named “Acid Gambit” carried out by CIA and elite Delta force commandos to rescue Kurt Muse succeeded and America was able to capture Manuel Noriega and sentence him to prison.
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