| | |  Americas & Beyond 
Noriega: US Ally Became Foe Because of Drug Ties
 Juan Zamorano - Associated Press
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April 27, 2010
| | In this Jan. 1990, U.S. Marshalls file photo, deposed Panamanian Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega is seen at an undisclosed location. A U.S. official says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has signed off on the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France, Monday, April 26, 2010. (AP) | |
Panama City, Panama — Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega went from being Washington's man in Latin America to the target of a 1989 U.S. invasion, as his rule became increasingly autocratic and he forged deep ties with Colombian drug traffickers.
Noriega, 72, was born in Panama City's El Chorrillo district and raised by foster parents. As a youth, he claimed to be four years older than he was to win a scholarship to a military academy in Peru.
In 1962, he joined Panama's combined military and police force, and rose through the ranks to become its chief under the mentorship of Gen. Omar Torrijos, who replaced the force's elite leadership with a new generation of officers drawn from the lower classes.
Torrijos took power in a coup in 1968, and made Noriega his chief of intelligence. Noriega built files on prominent Panamanians, and developed close ties with U.S. intelligence agencies. Torrijos also gave Noriega jurisdiction over customs and immigration, which helped fund the military.
After Torrijos died in an unexplained aircraft crash in 1981, Noriega seized power, despite the fact that the short, pockmarked man had little of Torrijos' charisma.
Noriega developed an image as a man of the people and spent weekends in rural Panama speaking publicly about his humble origins. His official annual salary was $60,000, but in addition to drugs he allegedly had a stake in liquor stores, maritime services, banks, casinos, newspapers, a television station and 12 radio stations.
He tolerated little opposition, closing private news media for months at a time for alleged offenses ranging from personal insults to incitement to disobedience.
Noriega long served as a U.S. agent, acting as a back channel to the Cuban government, confiscating drug shipments, tracing money laundering in Panamanian banks and reporting on terrorist and guerrilla activities. An Air Force colonel testified during his trial that Noriega was "the best source of information the United States had in Latin America."
But Washington began to distance itself from Noriega after the headless body of a foe, Hugo Spadafora, was found in a U.S. mailbag in Costa Rica in 1985, and Noriega's ties to the notorious Medellin drug cartel in Colombia became clearer.
The final break came three years later with grand jury drug indictments in Florida, and the United States began exerting pressure, including sanctions, to force him to resign.
When elections appeared to be going against him in May 1989, Noriega abruptly had them annulled and installed a hand-picked provisional president before his rubber-stamp assembly named him chief of government.
President George H.W. Bush sent U.S. troops to invade Panama on Dec. 20 and Noriega went into hiding, slipping into the Vatican Embassy on Christmas Eve. He surrendered days later after U.S. troops blasted music at his hideout, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a federal court in Miami for drug racketeering and money laundering.
Noriega was classified as a prisoner of war, allowed to wear military uniform to court appearances and lived in his own suite in a prison near Miami, with television and exercise equipment. His sentence was later shortened to 30 years, and he was set for release on good behavior in 2007.
But the U.S. held him pending an extradition request from France, which wanted to try him on charges of laundering millions in cocaine profits through three major French banks and using drug cash to invest in three posh Paris apartments.
He arrived in Paris on Tuesday, and could go on trial within two months.
He is also wanted in Panama, where a court has sentenced him in absentia to 60 years in prison for murder, embezzlement and corruption.
• • •
Key dates in the life of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega:
• 1938: Born in Panama City. Raised in poor neighborhood by foster parents.
• 1957: Wins scholarship to military academy in Peru, then joins Panama's joint military and police force.
• 1970: Placed in charge of military intelligence, working closely with the CIA.
• 1981: Noriega's mentor, strongman Omar Torrijos, dies in a plane crash.
• 1983: Noriega becomes chief of Panama's combined police and military forces.
• 1984: Noriega-backed candidate named president despite opposition claims of fraud.
• 1985: Body of Hugo Spadafora, who had accused Noriega of drug trafficking, found decapitated in Costa Rica.
• 1987: Huge protests against Noriega erupt after retired colonel admits fraud in 1984 elections.
• 1988: Noriega indicted in Florida on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. Coup fails.
• 1989: Opposition claims fraud in general elections; Noriega annuls them and installs provisional president. Another coup suppressed. Noriega declared head of government. U.S. invades Panama; Noriega takes refuge in Vatican Embassy.
• 1990: Noriega surrenders, convicted in Miami of drug racketeering and money laundering.
• 2007: Noriega completes U.S. sentence, but held pending extradition request from France.
• April 26, 2010: Noriega extradited to France from the United States.
• April 27, 2010: Noriega faces money laundering charges in French court.
The Associated Press
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