Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, 83, undergoes surgery to remove a brain tumor

Record ID: 394027

  • Title: Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, 83, undergoes surgery to remove a brain tumor
  • Date: 7th March 2017
  • Summary: PANAMA CITY, PANAMA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** NORIEGA DELIVERING SPEECH (NOT A SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2017 15:35
  • Keywords: Manuel Noriega brain surgery extradition dictator
  • Location: PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
  • City: PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
  • Country: Panama
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00266YOMYR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, 83, is undergoing surgery Tuesday (March 7) to remove a brain tumour, after judicial authorities allowed him a period of home arrest to go through with the operation.
    Back in January, Noriega was released from prison for three months to have the surgery.
    Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, left prison under heavy police guard and stayed at the apartment of one of his daughters in an upscale part of Panama City before the surgery.
    Noriega, who is serving time for murder, was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992.
    Born in Panama in January, 1934, Noriega never knew his father and was raised by a maternal aunt in Panama City's rundown San Felipe district, less than a mile from the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone. He was a graduate of the U.S. School of the Americas -- dubbed by rights groups "a finishing school for dictators."
    Extensive scars to his face from a severe case of adolescent acne led to opponents giving him the derisive nickname of "Cara de Pina" (Spanish for "Pineapple Face"). He was feared as street-smart and ruthless.
    As leader of the National Guard's intelligence unit, G2, under military leader Omar Torrijos, Noriega orchestrated the "disappearance" of the regime's opponents. After Torrijos was killed in an air crash in 1981, Noriega began manoeuvring for power and became the effective ruler of Panama two years later, promoting himself to general.
    A paid CIA collaborator since the early 1970s, Noriega initially worked closely with Washington, allowing U.S. forces to set up electronic listening posts in Panama and use the country as a conduit for covert aid to pro-American forces in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
    He fell out with Washington after dismissing Nicolas Ardito Barletta, Panama's first directly elected president in 16 years, and dabbling in geopolitical intrigues. He lent covert support to embargoed Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi and became increasingly involved with the Medellin drug cartel, receiving multi-million-dollar kickbacks.
    In February 1988, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had Noriega indicted on federal drugs charges relating to cocaine trafficking and money laundering. The following year Noriega nullified the results of a general election and had opposition candidates beaten. On December 15, 1989 the Noriega-controlled National Assembly declared the United States and Panama to be in a "state of war."
    Five days later, then-U.S. President George Bush sent U.S. forces into Panama accusing Noriega of provoking a confrontation with U.S. Canal Zone forces, fatally shooting one American soldier.
    France extradited former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega back to Panama in September 2011, 22 years after he surrendered to DEA agents during the United States' 1989 invasion.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register