Panama Defense Forces

Panamanian Public Forces
Panamanian Coat of arms
Service branches	Panamanian National Police National Border Service Institutional Protection Service National Aeronaval Service
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Juan Carlos Varela
Minister of Public Security	Alexis Bethancourt Yau
Manpower
Active personnel	30,000 active (as of 2016) 50,000 part-time and reserve agents
Expenditures
Budget	USD 481 million (2011)

Institutional Protection Service

The Panamanian Public Forces (Spanish: Fuerza Pública de la República de Panamá) are the national security forces of Panama. Panama is the second country in Latin America (the other being Costa Rica) to permanently abolish standing armies, with Panama retaining a small para-military security force. This came as a result of a U.S. invasion that overthrew a military dictatorship which ruled Panama from 1968 to 1989. The final military dictator, Manuel Noriega, had been belligerent toward the U.S. culminating in the killing of a U.S. Marine lieutenant and U.S. invasion ordered by U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

Panama maintains armed police and internal security forces, and small air and maritime forces. They are tasked with law enforcement and can perform limited military actions. Since 2010 they have reported to the Ministry of Public Security.

Panama's first army was formed in 1903, when the commander of a brigade of the Colombian army defected to the pro-independence side during Panama's fight for independence. His brigade became the Panamanian army.

In 1904, the army tried to overthrow the government, but failed. The United States persuaded Panama that a standing army could threaten the security of the Panama Canal Zone. Instead, the country set up a "National Police." For 48 years, this was the only armed force in Panama.

However, starting in the late 1930s, the National Police attracted several new recruits who had attended military academies in other Latin American countries. Combined with increased spending on the police, this began a process of militarization. The process sped up under José Remón, who became the Police's commandant (commanding officer) in 1947. He himself had graduated from Mexico's military academy. He began promoting fewer enlisted men to officer rank, giving the police a more military character.