The populist strongman who had long cooperated with the CIA was growing increasingly independent, more embarrassingly thuggish. Officials in Washington — and grand juries in Florida — decided he was in cahoots with the drug traffickers he once helped fight. Daughters: Panama ex-dictator Noriega critical after surgery. Dictator sues video game. Judge dismisses Noriega lawsuit over 'Call of Duty'.
So in December , President George H. After a few days of fighting, the Central American dictator fled to asylum at the Vatican Embassy on Christmas Eve, setting off a bizarre siege in which U. Ten days later, he finally surrendered and was whisked to Miami. Noriega was never again a free man. He was imprisoned first in Florida, then in France, and finally at home in Panama, where he died on Monday at age He joined Panama's Defense Forces in and steadily advanced through the ranks, mainly through loyalty to his mentor, Gen.
Omar Torrijos, who became Panama's de facto leader after a coup. As Torrijos' intelligence chief, Noriega monitored political opponents and developed close ties with U. Two years after Torrijos died in a mysterious plane crash in , Noriega became the head of the armed forces and Panama's de facto ruler. Noriega ruled with an iron fist, ordering the deaths of those who opposed him and maintaining a murky, close and conflictive relationship with the United States. At the apex of his power he wielded great influence outside the country as well thanks to longstanding relationships with spy agencies around the world, said R.
Koster, an American novelist and biographer of Noriega. Noriega was considered a valued CIA asset and was paid millions of dollars for assistance to the U. Noriega also helped the U. But Washington ultimately soured on him, especially after a top political opponent was killed in and Noriega appeared to join forces with Latin American drug traffickers.
Foes in the Panamanian military tried several coups but failed, and their leaders were summarily executed by firing squad. The beginning of his downfall came in when federal grand juries in the Florida cities of Miami and Tampa indicted Noriega on drug trafficking charges.
During the operation, 23 U. He spent the final years of his life in a Panamanian prison for the murder of political opponents during his six-year reign. In , doctors detected the rapid growth of a benign brain tumor that had first been spotted four years earlier.
In January, a court granted Noriega house arrest to prepare for surgery on the tumor. After surgery in March, Noriega's daughters said he suffered a hemorrhage that left him in grave condition. Facebook Twitter Email. Manuel Noriega, ex-Panamanian dictator, dies at Show Caption.
Death squads, random killings and torture characterised these murderous conflicts. Noriega was also closely associated with the Colombian Medellin drug cartel of Pablo Escobar. Funds from drug trafficking were used to buy arms, pay fighters and suborn government officials. Noriega later claimed it was his refusal to help Lt Col Oliver North provide arms for the contra rebels in Nicaragua that triggered the US decision to drop him.
He was said to have met Bush in person on more than one occasion. Noriega represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures for the United States. Throughout the s and the s, Noriega was able to manipulate US policy toward his country, while skilfully accumulating near-absolute power in Panama. It is clear that each US government agency which had a relationship with Noriega turned a blind eye to his corruption and drug dealing.
Two years after his overthrow, Noriega was put on trial in Miami. Sitting glumly in the dock day after day, he cut a much-reduced figure compared with the bumptious dictator who strutted outside the comandancia. Noriega was convicted on a restricted list of charges including money laundering and drug trafficking, and sentenced to 40 years in a maximum security jail.
His lawyers protested, but in vain.
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