In an operation known as Nifty Package, he was flown to the US and the rest is history. Manuel Antonio Noriega Morena was born in although some biographies, edited by him, claimed he was born four years later in the working-class El Chorrillo district of Panama City, which he would later make his base. His father was an accountant who had emigrated from Colombia, his mother his father's housekeeper. Noriega was of mixed Spanish, Amerindian and African origin and his moreno dark skin ensured him of peasant and working-class support in a country dominated by the so-called rabiblancos, or white-tails, the economic elite of mainly Spanish ancestry.
At the age of five, Noriega was given up by his father for adoption to a woman schoolteacher. The boy hoped to become a doctor but, lacking resources, ended up as a cadet at the Peruvian Military Academy in Lima.
When Torrijos died in an unexplained plane crash in , fingers were pointed at Noriega. Whatever the case, Noriega became the new strongman. And by the time he took formal power in , Noriega was very much a key asset of the CIA. In return for payments whose amounts may never be known , he helped get US weapons, military equipment and cash to anti-communist forces in Central America, including the US-backed Contras fighting against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
He allowed the US to set up listening posts in Panama aimed at monitoring the leftist Sandinistas in Nicaragua while also channelling US money and weapons to the anti-Sandinista Contras.
By then, the CIA knew he was helping Colombian drug lords ship cocaine to the US but they turned a blind eye in return for his help. At the time, the Americans saw halting communism as more important than stopping cocaine entering their country, now proven to be a major mistake.
Noriega's influence in the Central American civil wars was seen as more important than the damage cocaine was increasingly causing in the streets of the US. What the CIA did not initially know was that Noriega was also dealing with Fidel Castro in Cuba and with the left-wing insurgencies in Nicaragua and other Central American countries, providing them with weapons but neglecting to put the proceeds into Panama's coffers.
He began to get quite rich. As a result of his wealth and power, he quickly won new friends, He had already befriended the English ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, who lived in Panama City with her husband Dr Roberto Arias during Noriega's rise through the ranks. Dr Arias was a Panamanian politician and diplomat as well as suspected guns and whisky smuggler, and serial womaniser who was shot by a political or love rival in He also became a double agent, selling American intelligence secrets to Cuba and Eastern European governments.
In , when Panamanians organized protests against Noriega and demanded his ouster, he declared a national emergency, shut down radio stations and newspapers and forced his political enemies into exile. That year the United States cut off aid to Panama and tried to get Noriega to resign; in , the U. Noriega voided the May presidential election, which included a U.
Shortly afterward, an American marine was killed by Panamanian soldiers. President George H. During the invasion, 23 U. Approximately Panamanian troops were killed; estimates for the number of civilians who died range from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more injured.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Similar to Adolf Hitler, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini did not become the dictator of a totalitarian regime overnight. For several years, he and his allies worked more or less within the confines of the Italian constitution to accrue power, eroding democratic In one of the longest and most successful missions in NASA history, Spirit would survey Martian geography for the next seven years, while The human rights group Amnesty International counts it as a method of torture.
Obituary: General Manuel Noriega. Panama's Noriega in critical condition. General Manuel Noriega's fall from grace. Noriega denies French drug charge. Image source, AFP. Music as a weapon: Tracks the US has allegedly used.
Former prisoners disagree. Related Topics. Panama United States Music. Published 20 May Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Rebecca Bodenheimer. Anthropology and History Expert. Rebecca Bodenheimer, Ph. Twitter Twitter. Updated August 28, School of the Americas.
Fun Fact: In , Noriega filed a lawsuit against a video game company, Activision Blizzard, for damaging his reputation by portraying him as a "kidnapper, murderer, and enemy of the state" in the game "Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Cite this Article Format. Bodenheimer, Rebecca. Biography of Manuel Noriega, Panamanian Dictator. George H. Occupation of Haiti From to What Is Kleptocracy?
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