Panama's state commission on the 1989 US invasion says DNA testing has identified the remains of a young soldier killed on the first day of the operation, ending his family's 36-year search, The Rio Times reports.
Roberto Adolfo Aparicio Oliva, 21, died in the El Chorrillo district of Panama City on 20 December 1989, when US forces invaded to remove General Manuel Noriega. His heavily burnt remains had been buried in a common grave at the Jardín de Paz cemetery.
A Guatemalan forensic anthropology foundation extracted the DNA, and Panama's forensic medicine institute matched it with samples from his relatives as part of a prosecutors' investigation. The commission has not said when the match was made or when the remains will be returned to the family. Prosecutors identified 11 other victims from the same graves last year.
Source: The Rio Times
