Ex-Panama Dictator Noriega Taken From Prison To Hospital PANAMA CITY - Panamanian police say former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega has been transported from prison to a hospital, possibly because of a stroke. A statement issued Sunday from the National Police says Noriega had high blood pressure and apparently a brain hemorrhage. He was taken from the El Renacer prison to Hospital Santo Tomas in the nation's capital. In December, Panamanian authorities said 77-year-old Noriega had limited mobility due to a stroke. He spent about 20 years in U.S. and French prisons on drug-trafficking and money-laundering convictions. Noriega returned to Panama on Dec. 11 and is serving three 20-year sentences for the killings of political opponents in the 1980s. His lawyers want Noriega to serve his sentence at home.