Former dictator Noriega to face justice in Panama

FORMER military strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega was flown home to Panama yesterday to be punished once again for crimes he committed during a career that saw him transformed from a Cold War ally of Washington to the target of a US invasion.

Noriega left Orly airport, south of Paris, after a convoy escorted him from La Sante prison.

Noriega’s return comes after more than 20 years in US and French prisons for drug trafficking and money laundering. Panama convicted him during his captivity overseas for the slayings of two political opponents in the 1980s.

He was sentenced to 20 years in each case. The ex-general, whose pockmarked face earned him the nickname “Pineapple Face,” could leave prison under a law allowing prisoners over 70 to serve out their time under house arrest.

Though other conflicts have pushed him from the spotlight, the 1989 invasion that ousted Noriega was one of the most bitterly debated events of the Cold War’s waning years.

As he rose in the Panamanian military during the 1970s and 1980s, Noriega cooperated with the CIA, helping the US combat leftist movements in Latin America by providing information and logistical help. He also acted as a back channel for the US with unfriendly governments such as Cuba’s.

But Noriega was playing a double game. He also began working with Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel, and made millions moving cocaine to the US.

As the US war on drugs gained prominence, Noriega’s drug ties became a source of increasing tension. After a US grand jury indicted him on drug charges in 1988, tensions escalated between his forces and US troops stationed around the Panama Canal.

On December 20, 1989, more than 26,000 US troops began moving into Panama City, clashing with Noriega loyalists in fighting that left the city devastated.