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| 1972 |
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| Torrijos passed a new labor code, which granted new rights to urban slum dwellers, peasants, and workers. Elite opposition stifled its implementation. | 1 |
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| 1974 |
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| Panama reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba. | 2 |
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| 1975 |
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| Panama joined the nonaligned movement. This, along with Torrijos's quiet support of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, signaled a shift from Panama's previous pro-U.S. position. | 3 |
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| 1978, April |
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| After four years of negotiations, the U.S. Senate ratified a new canal treaty hammered out by U.S. president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian president Torrijos. The new treaty called for full repatriation of the canal by the year 2000, but gave the U.S. the right to intervene to ensure operation of the canal. | 4 |
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| 1981, Aug. 1 |
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| Gen. Torrijos was killed in a plane crash. | 5 |
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| 1982, July 30 |
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| Civilian president Aristides Royo resigned, forced out by the National Guard under Gen. MANUEL ANTONIO NORIEGA and replaced by his vice president. | 6 |
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| 1984, May 6 |
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| Nicolas Ardito Barletta, of the National Democratic Union (UNADE), won the presidential election under charges that the election was fixed by Noriega, head of the newly renamed National Defense Forces (NDF). | 7 |
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| 1985 |
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| In an effort to undermine Noriega's power in Panama, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency released reports that he was involved in drug trafficking. A long-time informant for the CIA, Noriega was, at this time, becoming a liability to U.S. interests. At the same time, Noriega was under pressure in Panama from an official investigation into torture and murder launched by Pres. Barletta. | 8 |
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| Sept. 28 |
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| Noriega forced Pres. Barletta to resign, replacing him with V.P. Eric Arturo del Valle of the Republican Party (PR). | 9 |
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| Dec |
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| Noriega refused U.S. National Security Adviser John Poindexter's request to use Panama as a staging ground for an invasion of Nicaragua. | 10 |
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