From the 1960s to the 1980s Noriega was one of the U.S. government's hand picked opponents of Communist revolutionaries and drug traffickers. He received as much as $200,000 to, in theory, serve as an ally in the war on drugs. The career military man gradually climbed the ranks and by 1983, he was the de facto ruler of Panama.</s>PANAMA CITY (AP) _ A source close to the family of Manuel Noriega says the former Panamanian dictator has died at age 83.

The source was not authorized to be quoted by name. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela wrote in his Twitter account that “the death of Manuel A. Noriega closes a chapter in our history.”

The onetime U.S. ally was ousted as Panama’s dictator by an American invasion in 1989. Noriega later served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States.</s>NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A source close to the family of Manuel Noriega said the former Panamanian dictator has died at age 83.

The one-time U.S. ally was ousted as leader of Panama by an American invasion in 1989 and later served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States.

He died late Monday after suffering a brain hemorrhage resulting from surgery, CBS News reported. He had been under house arrest in Panama City since January.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela tweeted, “The death of Manuel A. Noriega closes a chapter in our history.”

Varela added, “His daughters and his relatives deserve to mourn in peace.”</s>PANAMA CITY (AP) — Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, a onetime U.S. ally who was ousted as Panama’s dictator by an American invasion in 1989, died late Monday at age 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 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.M. Koster, an American novelist and biographer of Noriega who has lived in Panama for decades.

After his downfall, Noriega served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States, then was sent to face charges in France. He spent all but the last few months of his final years 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 cooperate with a U.S. plan aimed at toppling Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government in the 1980s.

FILE – In this May 2, 1989 file photo, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega walks with supporters in the Chorrilo neighborhood, where he dedicated a new housing project, in Panama City. A source close to the family of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega said Monday, May 29, 2017, that he has died at age 83. (AP Photo/John Hopper, File)

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

In 2016, doctors detected the rapid growth of a benign brain tumor 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 tumor.

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

Following Noriega’s ouster Panama underwent huge changes, taking over the Panama Canal from U.S. 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 neighborhoods 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 U.S. troops.

Known mockingly as “Pineapple Face” for his pockmarked complexion, Manuel Antonio Noriega was born poor in Panama City on Feb. 11, 1934, and was raised by foster parents.

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

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

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

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

Washington ultimately soured 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.

Initially he reacted with defiance, thumbing his nose at U.S. 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.

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

Prosecutors accused Noriega of helping Colombia’s Medellin cocaine cartel ship “tons and tons of a deadly white powder” to the United States.

The defense cited court documents describing him as the “CIA’s man in Panama” and argued that the indictment “smells all the way from here to Washington.”

Jurors convicted Noriega in April 1992 of eight of 10 charges. Under the judge’s instructions, they were told not to consider the political side of the case — including whether the U.S. had the right to invade Panama and bring Noriega to trial in the first place.

During his years at a minimum-security federal prison outside Miami, Noriega got special POW treatment, allowed to wear his Panamanian military uniform and insignia when in court.

He lived in a bungalow apart from other inmates and had his own television and exercise equipment. He was said to be a TV news junkie and a voracious reader about politics and current events.

After completing his 17-year sentence in 2007, Noriega was extradited to France and received a seven-year sentence for money laundering.

But Panama wanted Noriega to return to face in-absentia convictions and two prison terms of 20 years for embezzlement, corruption and murder of opponents, including military commander Moises Giroldi, who led a failed rebellion on Oct. 3, 1989, and Hugo Spadafora, whose decapitated body was found in a mailbag on the border with Costa Rica in 1985.

In mid-2011, France approved his extradition to Panama.

Despite amassing great wealth, Noriega had worked hard to cultivate an image of a man of the people. He lived in a modest, two-story home in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Panama City that stood in stark contrast with the opulent mansions customary among Latin American dictators.

“He would only say ‘hello’ very respectfully,” said German Sanchez, who lived next door for 16 years. “You may think what you like of Noriega, but we can’t say he was anything but respectful toward his neighbors.”

“The humble, the poor, the blacks, they are the utmost authority,” Noriega said in one speech.

While some resentment lingers over the U.S. invasion, Noriega has so few supporters in modern-day Panama that attempts to auction off his old home attracted no bidders and the government decided to demolish decaying building down. Late in life, the ex-dictator essentially had zero influence over his country from behind bars.

“He is not a figure with political possibilities,” University of Panama sociologist Raul Leis said in 2008. “Even though there’s a small sector that yearns for the Noriega era, it is not a representative figure in the country.”

Noriega broke a long silence in June 2015 when he made a statement from prison on Panamanian television in which he asked forgiveness of those harmed by his regime.

“I feel like as Christians we all have to forgive,” he said, reading from a handwritten statement. “The Panamanian people have already overcome this period of dictatorship.”

But for the most part Noriega stayed mum about elite military and civilian associates who thrived on the corruption that he helped instill — and which still plagues the Central American nation of some 3.9 million people, a favored transshipment point for drugs and a haven for money laundering.

“He kept his mouth shut and died for the sins of others,” Koster, the biographer, said in a 2014 interview. “Nobody else ever went to prison.”

Meanwhile, families of more than 100 who were killed or disappeared during his rule are still seeking justice.</s>Panama's longtime military dictator Manuel Noriega has died at the age of 83, according to the country's president on Twitter.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela tweeted that "the death of Manuel A. Noriega closes a chapter in our history."

According to the BBC:



"Noriega recently underwent an operation after suffering a hemorrhage following brain surgery. "Noriega had been a key U.S. ally but was forcibly removed when American troops invaded in 1989 and was later jailed in the US on drugs and laundering charges. "He was also convicted in France, and then in Panama for murder, corruption and embezzlement. "He had been released from jail in January to prepare for the brain operation. "His death was announced by Secretary of State for Communication Manuel Dominguez."



Noriega was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992 but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died.

"In recent years, Noriega had suffered various ailments, including high blood pressure and bronchitis. "In 2016, doctors detected the rapid growth of a benign brain tumor that had first been spotted four years earlier. In January of this year, a court granted him house arrest to prepare for surgery on the tumor. "Noriega is survived by his wife, Felicidad, and daughters Lorena, Thays and Sandra."



An official cause of death was not immediately available.</s>PANAMA CITY (AP) — Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, a onetime U.S. ally who was ousted as Panama’s dictator by an American invasion in 1989, died late Monday at age 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 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.M. Koster, an American novelist and biographer of Noriega who has lived in Panama for decades.

After his downfall, Noriega served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States, then was sent to face charges in France. He spent all but the last few months of his final years 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 cooperate with a U.S. 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 tumor 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 tumor.

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

Following Noriega’s ouster Panama underwent huge changes, taking over the Panama Canal from U.S. 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 neighborhoods 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 U.S. troops.

Known mockingly as “Pineapple Face” for his pockmarked complexion, Manuel Antonio Noriega was born poor in Panama City on Feb. 11, 1934, and was raised by foster parents.

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

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

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

Noriega also helped the U.S. seize drugs at sea and track money laundering in Panama’s banks, and reported on guerrilla and terrorist activities.</s>Panama's longtime military dictator Manuel Noriega has died at the age of 83, according to the country's president on Twitter.

According to the BBC:



"Noriega recently underwent an operation after suffering a hemorrhage following brain surgery. "Noriega had been a key U.S. ally but was forcibly removed when American troops invaded in 1989 and was later jailed in the US on drugs and laundering charges. "He was also convicted in France, and then in Panama for murder, corruption and embezzlement. "He had been released from jail in January to prepare for the brain operation. "His death was announced by Secretary of State for Communication Manuel Dominguez."



Noriega was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992 but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died.</s>PANAMA CITY - For years, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was a close, sometimes secret ally of the U.S. in a nation holding the strategic Panama Canal.

Then things soured as the populist dictator grew increasingly independent and more embarrassingly thuggish. 



Grand juries in Florida alleged he was in cahoots with drug traffickers, and as 1989 neared a close U.S. troops invaded to depose him.

Noriega was never again free, doing time in prisons in the U.S., France and home until his death at age 83.</s>Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has died at the age of 83 following brain surgery this year, Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela said on Twitter late on Monday.

Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, spied for the Central Intelligence Agency until the United States invaded and toppled his corrupt government, ending a criminal career that saw him working with drug traffickers like Pablo Escobar.

Noriega was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992 but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died.</s>General Manuel Noriega, who was de facto leader of Panama before his ouster by U.S. troops in 1989, has died. Noreiga was brought to the U.S. where he was tried and imprisoned for drug trafficking.

General Manuel Noriega has died. The former dictator of Panama was 83 years old. He had been in poor health following surgery for a brain tumor earlier this year. Let's remember in 1989, U.S. troops invaded Panama after attacks on American citizens. President George H.W. Bush ordered what was then the largest U.S. military action since the Vietnam War.

GEORGE H W BUSH: General Noriega's reckless threats and attacks upon Americans in Panama created an imminent danger to the 35,000 American citizens in Panama. As President, I have no higher obligation than to safeguard the lives of American citizens. And that is why I directed our armed forces to protect the lives of American citizens in Panama and to bring General Noriega to justice in the United States.

GREENE: And Noriega was eventually captured, tried and imprisoned in the United States. NPR's Carrie Kahn joins us now from Mexico City. Hi, Carrie.

GREENE: So help us remember Noriega.

KAHN: He was one of the more interesting characters of Latin America. In many ways, he was the typical strong man. But in so many other ways, he was a unique character all of his own making. He wasn't an ideologue. He was more a cunning opportunist at every time - often playing both sides in the geopolitical arena of his time. But he was born poor in Panama.

He rose through the ranks of the military there. He was a confidant of the dictator at the time. And when he died in a suspicious plane crash, Noriega became the de facto leader of Panama. He wasn't the most charismatic or good-looking. Remember, he was nicknamed pineapple face...

KAHN: ...For his acne-scarred face. But he was also known to be quite the womanizer, lover of whiskey. And both of those were financed by his infamous close ties to Colombian drug traffickers. At one point, U.S. prosecutors said his fortune was estimated to top $300 million.

GREENE: What led to this showdown with the United States? Remind us.

KAHN: There were multiple factors. You know, at one time, he was an ally. But he also enjoyed goading his benefactor to the north. He played an important role in the U.S.'s 1980s Cold War battles in Central America. You know, he allowed Panama to be a training ground for the U.S.-backed Contras and Salvadoran soldiers fighting insurgents in both Nicaragua and El Salvador.

But at the same time, he also sold them arms to the - he sold arms to the guerrilla fighters on the other side - of course, all for a very handsome sum. He also allowed Panama to be a key conduit for cocaine smuggling to the U.S. But then there became mounting opposition at home against him. He was ruthless with the opposition. And he was an enemy to democratic rule.

He annulled the country's 1989 elections, and he became increasingly hostile to the U.S. And then as we just heard, in December of that year in 1989, there was an attack on U.S. soldiers in Panama City. And many say that was the excuse that President George H.W. Bush was looking for. But the U.S. said that was enough, and it invaded Panama.

GREENE: Well, it invaded a small country but this was no small military operation.

KAHN: No, not at all. It was the largest - as you said, the largest U.S. military action since Vietnam - the Vietnam War. Twenty-seven thousand U.S. troops invaded Panama and the small national forces just crumbled. The casualty count was 23 Americans killed, but hundreds of Panamanians perished, including civilians. Noriega fled into the Vatican embassy. He stayed there for weeks.

And probably people remember the most famous tactic the U.S. used to drive him out was that blasting of American rock music...

KAHN: ...Twenty-four hours a day. He finally gave up and was whisked to the U.S, tried and was sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering.

GREENE: OK, in just a few seconds, his final years.

KAHN: He spent nearly 20 years in a U.S. prison, then was sent to France, then back to Panama where he was sentenced for murder of political opponents. In 2015, he gave a TV interview in Panama. And he finally did apologize somewhat for his brutal rule.

GREENE: All right, NPR's Carrie Kahn in Mexico City speaking to us about the death of Manuel Noriega. Carrie, thanks.
Former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega dies aged 83.