Ex-dictator Noriega dead at 83
PANAMA’S Former Military dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega who precipitated the 1989 US invasion that claimed the lives of untold numbers of his fellow countrymen and women, died Monday night, May 29, aged 83
La Estrella says he died without the forgiveness of a people still divided over his response to the invasion, some blaming him for not facing it as the general he was and others for not giving up in time to avoid the most serious aggression suffered by the country.
His physical disappearance in recent months derailed the debate over whether he should be granted the house arrest his family applied for in view of his advanced age and the physical ailments of an 83-year-old man.
Brain surgery
His brain surgery, for a non malignant tumor on March 7, was interpreted as a strategy to allow, him to spend his last days in the company of his daughters, but turned out to be a fatal intervention from which he did not recover.
His doctors had recommended his temporary release to prepare for the operation and it was granted last January, including a period of postoperative recovery, also out of jail.
Noriega had been held at the El Renacer penitentiary, a former US jail, since 2011, when he was extradited from France, where he had been sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering, and a fine of one million euros to be paid to the Panamanian State.
He had previously been jailed in Miami, where he was tried and convicted after being captured in the invasion He was convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering, and received a 40 year sentence which with remissions was reduced to 20..
In Panama he was facing sentences of up to 60 years for murder but never appeared in court.
His twisted path to power began in 197O when he supported the return to the country of the newly proclaimed leader Omar Torrijos, organizer of a 1968 military coup. That loyalty made him indispensable and he was made responsible for the regime’s security.
Some versions point to his involvement in the apparent accident that killed Torrijos.
The death left him in the front line to become a general, after dispensing with the retirement or forced removal of those ahead of him in the hierarchy, including Colonel Roberto Diaz Herrera, cousin of Torrijos.
After being exiled Herrera ended up revealing the sins of Noriega, including being a double agent spying for Cuba and the CIA, and links to the Colombian drug cartels. He was also accused of the beheading death of medical doctor Hugo Spadafora and the Columbian priest Héctor Gallego.
Growing opposition
The statements exacerbated opposition to an increasingly deteriorating military regime, which no longer followed the dictatorial “torrijista” path, popular for its anti-imperialist struggle.
Drunk with power, Noriega, who was lampooned as “pineapple” face and began to lose the self-control he always displayed, along with the alliances that supported him in Washington, Europe and Israel.
Supported by his more radical group of followers, Noriega contravened the constitution, overturned an election and was proclaimed head of state in 1989.
Machete in hand he declared war on the USA. The invasion followed.
But the “strong man” of the Defense Forces of Panama did not face the US military intervention Instead as his troops fought and died he sought refuge in homes of friends and collaborators (some say that he hid under the skirts of a lover) and finally fled to the Vatican emmissary’s residence, which he left as a prisoner.
His only gesture of repentance, was on June 25, 2015, when he read a statement in front of television cameras. It failed to convince and closed the doors for a possible humanitarian deal.
