US denies Noriega parole plea

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was denied early release from a Florida prison, despite a letter from a judge saying the 70-year-old former general had spent enough time behind bars.

The US Parole Commission decided last week to deny Noriega’s request for parole, said Tom Hutchinson, the commission’s executive director.

Noriega’s lawyer, Frank Rubino, said he would appeal.

US District Court Judge William Hoeveler, who sentenced Noriega for his 1992 drug trafficking conviction, said the former dictator was a converted Baptist who frequently saw the pastor who baptised him, according to the February 20 letter to parole commission chairman Edward Reilly.

Hoeveler had originally sentenced Noriega to 40 years in prison, but in 1999 reduced his sentence by 10 years, saying the original sentence was too harsh. Noriega is serving his time in a Miami prison.

Hoeveler also said in the letter that Rubino told him Noriega had no desire to return to politics.

“His only desire is to retire to his home and be with his grandchildren,” Hoeveler wrote.

At a February 18 parole hearing, Assistant US Attorney Richard Gregorie said freeing Noriega would destabilise Panama, which has enjoyed a stable government since a US invasion ousted Noriega in 1989.

That hearing was probably Noriega’s last before his mandatory release in 2007 for good behaviour in prison, Hutchinson said.