Manuel Noriega had been Panama’s military dictator since 1983. Although involved in drug trafficking, he received support from the US because of the assistance he provided in Central America against the spread of communism. However, he was disowned in 1988 when his drug trafficking was made known to the public, and when he annulled the results of a presidential election that would have brought a rival, Guillermo Endara, to power, in 1989, President Bush ordered an increase in the number of US troops stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. The shooting of a US Marine by members of the PDF (Panamanian Defense Forces) triggered the full scale US invasion of the country which ended with Endara’s restoration to power and Noriega’s arrest by the DEA.