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Manuel Noriega: Countries
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In the 1980's Noriega was awash with money from drug trafficking- especially once he took over the country in 1983. The US tolerated him because he was helpful in arms smuggling to the right wing paramilitaries in El Salvador, as well as playing a key role in hammering Castro. But by the late 1980's, Noriega was charting his own course in Central America; while he paid tribute to the American anti-Castro campaign, he was ... helpful to Castro and the hated Sandinista rebels in getting around the American military and economic cordons. Insulted at the audacity, the US began to work on an anti-image of Noriega, which coincided with the disappearance of his only supporters- Oliver North, who was relieved of duties in 1986- and CIA Director William Casey, who died mysteriously during the Iran-Contra Affair in 1987. In this way, Noriega became an easy target to take out.
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Noriega was a key ally of the former US president George Bush snr in covert wars against communists, before he was vilified by Washington as a drugs baron. His planned release for good behaviour on September 9, after serving 15 years of a 40-year sentence, worries the US, which fears his return to Panama could destabilise the country.
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French authorities want him extradited to their country, where Noriega was convicted in absentia in 1999 on money-laundering charges. He was accused of using drug profits in part to buy luxurious apartments in Paris.
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Panama has unfinished business with Noriega, who was taken from the country in January 1990 after the U.S. military invaded. There are criminal convictions against him, including one for the beheading of Spadafora's brother, Hugo, a leading opposition figure, in 1985. And there is a sense among the population that despite his years in prison in the United States, he has not fully paid for all the rough years he put everyone here through.
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The Federal Bureau of Prisons website as of December 28, 2007, does not give a projected release date for inmate Noriega (ID # 38699-079). However, he may be handed over to another country for trial or imprisonment instead of being released into the public realm.
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Judge William Turnoff said Noriega's status as a prisoner of war under the Geneva conventions did not mean he should immediately be sent back to the central America country he ruled in the 1980s. An extradition order would be issued today, said the judge.
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