Noriega Morena, Manuel (Antonio) (1940– )

Panamanian soldier and politician, effective ruler and dictator of Panama from 1983, as head of the National Guard, until deposed by the USA in 1989. An informer for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the late 1960s, he was known to be involved in drug trafficking as early as 1972, but enjoyed US support until 1987. In the 1989 US invasion of Panama, he was forcibly taken to the USA, where in 1992 he was tried and convicted of cocaine trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering. He was the first foreign head of state to be convicted on criminal charges by a US jury.

An ally of the military strongman, Omar Torrijos Herrera, Noriega was part of the coup which removed Arnulfo Arias from power in 1968 and was made intelligence chief by Torrijos in 1970, after Torrijos seized power, and chief of staff in 1982. The political power he wielded behind the scenes led to his enlistment by the CIA from the 1970s, and he was seen as an ally against Nicaragua until the Irangate scandal limited US covert action there. In 1983, as head of the National Guard he promoted himself to general and effectively controlled the country's government, claiming fraudulent victories for his candidate in the 1984 and 1989 presidential elections. In return for tacitly permitting money laundering and the transshipment of cocaine, he accepted bribes of $15 million.

Noriega was born in Panamá City and studied at the university there. After training at a military academy in Lima, Peru, he was commissioned in the National Guard in 1962, and received US counterintelligence training.

From 1985, he cooperated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, but his 1987 crackdown on civil liberties led to a deterioration in relations with the USA. In 1988, a federal grand jury in Florida indicted him for breaking drug laws and money laundering. An October 1989 attempted military coup against him failed and on 20 December 1989 President George H W Bush ordered an invasion of the country by 24,000 US troops to arrest him. Noriega initially took refuge in the Vatican embassy, but eventually surrendered on 3 January 1990 and was taken to the USA for trial. After being found guilty, he was given a 40-year prison sentence (later reduced to 30 years) and was imprisoned in Miami.