The 7th Macho de Monte Infantry Company was founded on April 7, 1969, as part of the National Guard of Panama by General Omar Torrijos who had seized power in a coup in 1968.

[4] Following Manuel Noriega's seizure of power and transformation of the National Guard into the Panama Defense Forces in 1983 the unit was built into an elite infantry battalion.

[5] During the 1989 Panamanian coup d'état attempt the company sided with Noriega and were deployed by air to Panama City to quell the coup attempt and to dislodge the entrenched rebels from the Central Barracks.

The battle lasted for 5 hours and featured room-to-room combat as United States Army Rangers attempted to secure the Rio Hato military base.

[10] The 7th Macho de Monte Infantry Company was structured as follows:[3] Special sections