Noriega Morena, Manuel (Antonio)

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.