The 7th Macho de Monte Infantry Company ( es, Séptima Compañía de Infantería Macho de Monte) was an elite infantry battalion of the

Panama Defense Forces The Panama Defense Forces ( es, Fuerzas de Defensa de Panamá; FFDD) and formerly the National Guard of Panama, were the armed forces of the Republic of Panama. It was created in 1983 led by General Manuel Antonio Noriega and his general staff. ...

. Its mascot was the

Baird's tapir The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, as ...

, from which the company took it name, as in Panama the tapir is called 'Macho de Monte' which translates as 'mountain men'. It was based at the Base Militar "General de Division Omar Torrijos Herrera" in

Rio Hato Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

and specialised in

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

. It was disbanded alongside the rest of the Panama Defense Forces on December 20, 1989, following the

United States invasion of Panama The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos– ...

History

The 7th Macho de Monte Infantry Company was founded on April 7, 1969, as part of the

National Guard of Panama The Panama Defense Forces ( es, Fuerzas de Defensa de Panamá; FFDD) and formerly the National Guard of Panama, were the armed forces of the Republic of Panama. It was created in 1983 led by General Manuel Antonio Noriega and his general staff. ...

by General

Omar Torrijos Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and military leader of Panama from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, ...

who had seized power in a coup in 1968. The unit's first leader was Ediberto del Cid who had supported Torrijos. Following

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritaria ...

's seizure of power and transformation of the National Guard into the

in 1983 the unit was built into an elite infantry battalion. During the 1989 Panamanian coup d'état attempt the company sided with Noriega and were deployed by air to

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

to quell the coup attempt and to dislodge the entrenched rebels from the Central Barracks. Their performance during the coup attempt showed the unit to be one of Noriega's most loyal and as a result it became a commando and special forces unit specialising in guerilla warfare in case of US intervention. The battalion, along with the whole of the

, was disbanded on December 20, 1989, following the

US invasion of Panama The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos� ...

. During the invasion the battalion took part in the Battle of Rio Hato Airfield. The battle lasted for 5 hours and featured room-to-room combat as

United States Army Rangers United States Army Rangers, according to the US Army's definition, are personnel, past or present, in any unit that has the official designation "Ranger". The term is commonly used to include graduates of the US Army Ranger School, even if t ...

attempted to secure the Rio Hato military base.

Structure

The 7th Macho de Monte Infantry Company was structured as follows: *Headquarters *3 Rifle Platoons *1 Inner Guard Platoon *1 Mortar Section Special sections *1 Commandos *1 Frogmen Section *1 Explosives Section *1 Pana-Jungle Section *1 Motorized Section - "Cocuyos Montaneros"

References

{{reflist Military history of Panama Units of the Panama Defense Forces