On July 3, 1987, a bronze statue of former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt was topped from its pedestal and completely destroyed by anti-American protesters. At the time Panama was under economic sanctions by the US, a period known as 'la crisis'. According to sources in Panama the toppled statue was shown on television during a night of anti-American protests. It is unclear who was responsible for the destruction, it may have been a Panamanian government sponsored group (Manuel Noriega was the head of the military government at the time) or an anti-Noriega anti-American dissident group. The statue was never recovered and some speculate it was confiscated and sold for scrap.