After a stint in Sunny South Florida and a trip to France, Noriega may be headed home soon, not that anyone really wants him here other than the ones that want to see him spend the rest of his life behind bars. There are a lot of stories that I have heard down here about the way he tried to negotiate a deal with the US years ago when he was in power where he was to leave Panama but negotiations failed and later the US invaded Panama and captured him. I am sure that most people just want to put this all behind them and get on with the good life down here. Panama’s government said Wednesday that the long-awaited extradition of former dictator Manuel Noriega is one step closer to reality after a French court said it received U.S. approval to send Noriega home to face a 20-year prison sentence here. this was then followed by the news that the French court will allow Noriega’s return to Panama.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that U.S. approval was needed to return Noriega to Panama because the United States originally extradited him to France, where he was sentenced to seven years for money laundering.
The statement said the French court announced that it had received the U.S. approval.
The ex-dictator’s defense lawyer said Noriega could be sent to Panama by Christmas. But lawyer Julio Berrios said a Nov. 23 hearing could find that France must reissue the extradition decree it originally issued in July and that could delay the extradition beyond Christmas.
During his 1983-89 turn as Panama’s president, Noriega ruled with an iron fist, ordering the deaths of those who opposed him.
Then-U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered an invasion in December 1989 to oust Noriega. He was captured and taken to Miami to face drug trafficking charges.
U.S. prosecutors said Noriega helped Colombia’s Medellin cartel ship tons of cocaine into the United States. Jurors convicted him in April 1992 of eight of 10 charges, and he was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
After his U.S. sentence ended in 2007, Noriega was extradited to France, where he was sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering.
Panama wants Noriega returned to serve two prison terms of 20 years handed down after convictions in absentia. He was convicted of embezzlement, corruption and murdering opponents, including military commander Moises Giroldi, who led a failed rebellion two months before the U.S. intervention, and Hugo Spadafora, an opponent whose decapitated body was found on the border with Costa Rica in 1985.
Noriega still faces murder charges in the killing of an opposition leader in the 1970s, but France denied an extradition request on that count.
Editor: Now the French court decision to allow his return comes on the heals of the US approval. I knew Noriega’s attorney back in the days Noreiga was in South Florida and his view point is interesting and gives another side to the story. As I always try to remember, there are always three sides to any story, his there’s and the truth which we may never really hear about.
Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega just wants to spend his twilight years at home with his family, and his return to the country he once ruled should be a “non-event,” a Miami attorney who represented him for two decades said today.
Attorney Frank Rubino represented Noriega in his Miami drug trial and fought on his behalf to have him repatriated after the deposed leader served part of his 40-year federal prison sentence, which was imposed in 1992 and shortened more than a decade later.
The government of France, though, insisted Noriega serve a money-laundering sentence, and he was flown to the European nation two years ago. A French court ruled today that Noriega could be sent back to Panama
“He hasn’t seen his family in awhile. He wants to go home,” Rubino said. “He is an elderly gentleman. He is going to sit in his rocking chair and enjoy his grandchildren and now his great-grandchildren.”
Noriega, who is in his 70s, was extracted by U.S. troops after the 1989 invasion of Panama. President George H.W. Bush said the one-time CIA asset who ran the country for six years had teamed up with Colombian druglords. The general, who was designated a prisoner of war by the Miami federal judge who presided over his case, had been indicted the year before.
But Rubino said the real truth behind his capture was Noriega refused to help U.S.-backed rebel fighters in neighboring Nicaragua.
Rubino said he hopes his former client can return home without fanfare. He said the fight to keep Noriega from being extradited to France turned out to be a “tempest in a teapot” since the French kept him imprisoned for only about a year.
The worry in Noriega’s family was the feeble former dictator would end up dying in France.
Panama wants Noriega returned to serve prison terms handed down after he was convicted in absentia of embezzlement, corruption and murder. But because of his age, he may get to serve out his time under house arrest
“A lot of water has gone over the dam,” Rubino said. “I think basically it will be a non-event. I don’t think it’s that big of deal in Panama.”
As part of the Panama Canal Treaty approval, Omar Torrijos agreed to return Panama to a democratically elected government. After his death, the PDF colonels maintained the dictatorship for their own purposes. The United States did not want to turn the canal over to a military dictatorship.
Noriega was never elected nor appointed President of Panama. General of the Defense Forces and Chief of Staff, maybe, never president.
So why didn’t they let Klaus Barbie and other “gentlemen” Nazi killers go, when they were just old men too!! I’m sure they would have liked to wile away their years in rocking chairs with their grandchildren too… what about the familes, kids, and grandchildren of all those he had murdered …. and the rest of Torrioe’s gang of commanders, of which Spadafor, was merely the highest profile. After spending over 2-1/2 years in five different trips to Panama, I had an opportunity to meet many people who either had family murdered by this satan worshipping scumbag, or were on his death lists. Especially around Volcan – Rio Hondo