Manuel Noriega
Manuel Noriega ruled Panama, worked for American intelligence, and was removed by an American invasion. Born in Panama City in 1934, illegitimate and raised by a godmother in a poor quarter, he trained at a military academy in Peru on a scholarship and joined the National Guard. He was recruited by American intelligence as a paid informant in the late 1950s and was on the CIA payroll intermittently for decades, receiving substantial sums, while also selling information to Cuba and others. He supported Omar Torrijos's coup in 1968 and became head of military intelligence, running surveillance and a network of informers. Torrijos died in a plane crash in 1981, and by 1983 Noriega commanded the renamed Panama Defense Forces and governed the country through figurehead presidents. He was useful to Washington: he assisted the Contras in Nicaragua, allowed training facilities, and provided intelligence. He was simultaneously trafficking cocaine for the Medellín cartel and laundering its money, which American agencies documented for years while continuing to employ him. The relationship broke down in 1987-88. A former deputy accused him of murder and election-rigging, he was indicted in Florida on drug charges, and he annulled the May 1989 election that his opponent had plainly won, having his supporters beaten in the street with iron bars. The United States invaded on 20 December 1989 with around 27,000 troops. Several hundred Panamanian civilians died, and the number is disputed. Noriega took refuge in the Vatican nunciature, which was surrounded by loudspeakers playing rock music, and surrendered in January 1990. He served sentences in the United States, France and Panama, and died in 2017.
- Lived: 1934 CE – 2017 CE
- Nationality: Panamanian
- Roles: head_of_state, dictator, military_leader
