Panama searches mass graves for victims of 1989 U.S. invasion

A member of a forensic team walks in the area during the exhumation of the remains of victims of the 1989 U.S. invasion at the Monte Esperanza cemetery, in Colon, Panama October 14, 2021. REUTERS/Erick Marciscano

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Several bags with human remains have been exhumed from a mass grave in Panama amid searches for the victims of the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, officials said on Thursday.

The military operation took the lives of some 300 civilians and marked the end of the dictatorship of General Manuel Noriega. For years, families have called for a search for the remains of those who died, many of whom were buried in mass graves.