Shropshire Star

Former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega dies at 83

Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela said his death “closes a chapter in our history”.

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Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, a onetime US ally who was ousted as Panama’s dictator by an American invasion in 1989, has died aged 83.

Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela wrote in his Twitter account that “the death of Manuel A Noriega closes a chapter in our history”.

Varela added: “His daughters and his relatives deserve to mourn in peace.”

Noriega served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States and was later sent to face charges in France. The final years of his life were spent in a Panamanian prison for murder of political opponents during his 1983-89 regime.

He accused Washington of a “conspiracy” to keep him behind bars and tied his legal troubles to his refusal to co-operate with a US plan aimed at toppling Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government in the 1980s.

In recent years Noriega suffered various ailments including high blood pressure and bronchitis.

In 2016, doctors detected the rapid growth of a benign brain tumour that had first been spotted four years earlier, and in the following January a court granted him house arrest to prepare for surgery on the tumour.

He is survived by his wife, Felicidad, and three daughters, Lorena, Thays and Sandra.

Manuel Noriega raises his fists to acknowledge the crowd cheers during a Dignity Battalion rally in Panama City
Manuel Noriega raises his fists to acknowledge the crowd cheers during a Dignity Battalion rally in Panama City (John Hopper/AP)

Following Noriega’s ousting, Panama underwent huge changes, taking over the Panama Canal from US control in 1999, vastly expanding the waterway and enjoying a boom in tourism and real estate.

Today the Central American nation has little in common with the bombed-out neighbourhoods where Noriega hid during the 1989 invasion, before being famously smoked out of his refuge at the Vatican Embassy by incessant, loud rock music blared by US troops.

Manuel Antonio Noriega was born poor in Panama City on February 11 1934 and was raised by foster parents.

He joined Panama’s Defence Forces in 1962 and steadily rose through the ranks, mainly through loyalty to his mentor, General Omar Torrijos, who became Panama’s de facto leader after a 1968 coup.

As Gen Torrijos’ intelligence chief, Noriega monitored political opponents and developed close ties with US intelligence agencies guarding against possible threats to the canal. Two years after Gen Torrijos died in a mysterious plane crash in 1981, Noriega became the head of the armed forces and Panama’s de facto ruler.

Manuel Antonio Noriega
Noriega died aged 83 (Matias Recart/AP)

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 RM Koster, an American novelist and biographer of Noriega who has lived in Panama for decades.

Noriega was considered a valued CIA asset and was paid millions of dollars for assistance to the US throughout Latin America, including acting as a liaison to Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Noriega also helped the US seize drugs at sea and track money laundering in Panama’s banks, and reported on guerrilla and terrorist activities.

Washington ultimately turned sour on him, especially after a top political opponent was killed in 1985 and Noriega appeared to join forces with Latin American drug traffickers. Foes in the Panamanian military attempted several coups but failed, and their leaders were summarily executed by firing squad.

The beginning of his downfall came in 1988 when federal grand juries in the Florida cities of Miami and Tampa indicted Noriega on drug-trafficking charges.

Manuel Noriega holds a rifle bearing his name, given to him by a supporter during a pro-government rally, in Santiago
Manuel Noriega holds a rifle bearing his name, given to him by a supporter during a pro-government rally, in Santiago (Matias Recart/AP)

Initially he reacted with defiance, thumbing his nose at US economic sanctions designed to drive him from power. He famously waved a machete at a rally while vowing not to leave, and in 1989 he nullified elections that observers say were handily won by the opposition.

US President George HW Bush ordered the invasion in December 1989, and Noriega was captured and taken to Miami. During the operation, 23 American military personnel died and 320 were wounded, and the Pentagon estimated 200 Panamanian civilians and 314 soldiers were killed.

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