Who is Manuel Noriega?
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno was born on 11 February 1934 in Panama City. Noriega is most famous for being a Panamanian general and dictator. He ruled over Panama from 1983 until 1989. However, he was never the official president of the country. Instead, he asserted an iron grip as the country’s de facto military head. Manuel Noriega attended the Military School of Chorrillos in Lima, Peru. Following his education, he became a career soldier. In 1967, he served with the National Guard. He became a lieutenant in the late 1960s. Following the removal of Arnulfo Arias, the country’s civilian leader, from power, Manuel Noriega supported his mentor, Omar Torrijos, helping him through military struggles. Torrijos rewarded him by making him lieutenant colonel, as well as appointing him Chief of Military Intelligence. In performing his duties, he led a campaign, that has been described as ruthless, against Western Panama guerrillas. Further, it is said that he was responsible for the disappea
Noriega was never the official president of Panama but he became the de facto ruler of the country in 1983, heading the Panama Defence Forces. He was one of Washington’s top allies in Latin America, and had close ties to the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Senior, and to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which he aided in its covert war against communists in Central America. Why did ties with the US deteriorate? By the late 1980s, relations had become extremely tense between Noriega and the US government. A US Congressional committee report concluded that Noriega was a major player in drug-trafficking in the region. The US authorities also accused him of violating human rights and rigging elections in 1989. Washington initially imposed sanctions, a move that was followed by a tense stand-off between US forces stationed in the Panama Canal zone and Noriega’s troops. By mid-December, the situation had worsened so much that President Bush launched an invasion, ost
