ABSTRACT
How did the French press view the US invasion of Panama a few days before Christmas 1989? Twenty years after this major event, the question is not theoretical. Its interest is twofold. It enables us to understand how a press hugely divided along ideological, even partisan, lines positioned itself on an event of international scope that did not involve France. Can we truly evoke Ferdinand de Lesseps’s unsuccessful attempts to build the Panama Canal? France did not seem to be directly concerned by the US President’s decision to launch a military offensive to put Panama’s strong man, General Noriega, under arrest.
