Except the newspaper.
"French court approves Noriega extradition" by Jamey Keaten and Pierre-Antoine Souchard Associated Press / November 23, 2011
PARIS—A French court ruled Wednesday that former dictator Manuel Noriega can be extradited to Panama to serve time for past crimes, more than 20 years after being ousted and arrested in a U.S. invasion.
The elderly former Panamanian strongman hasn't seen his homeland in more than two decades, years he spent behind bars in Florida, on drug charges, and France, for money laundering. His lawyer said he could be in Panama as soon as Thursday.
Panama wants Noriega returned to serve prison terms handed down after he was convicted in absentia for embezzlement, corruption and murder. There's a chance that because of his age -- he's in his 70s -- he may get to serve out his time under house arrest.
"God Bless you," Noriega told the French appeals court that announced the extradition approval Wednesday. "God bless my family, God bless my enemies, God bless France."
"I want to return to Panama and prove my innocence," he said, through an interpreter.
The decision comes after months of legal procedures focused on a man whose complicated past has kept judicial officials in three countries busy for years.
France's prime minister, Francois Fillon, now needs to sign an administrative decree allowing for Noriega to be transferred.
"If Panama wants to do this very quickly, it will send a military plane, and as of tomorrow night, he could be in Panama City," Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Noriega, told reporters in Paris Wednesday....
Noriega, a one-time CIA asset who lorded over Panama from 1983 to 1989, turned into an embarrassment for the U.S. after he sidled up to Colombia's Medellin drug cartel and turned to crime.
In the waning days of the Cold War, Noriega was seen by U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration as a pivotal ally against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. But he eventually fell out with Washington.
In late 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered an invasion to oust Noriega. The dictator holed up in the Vatican Embassy, and U.S. forces blasted it with incessant loud rock music until he surrendered in January 1990.
Taken to Miami, he was accused of helping the Medellin cartel ship tons of cocaine into the United States. Jurors convicted him in 1992 on eight of 10 charges, and he was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
The crimes he was convicted of were when he was employed by the CIA.
After his U.S. sentence ended, he remained in legal limbo in Miami from 2007 to 2010, when France sought his extradition to face money laundering charges. He was convicted in Paris and sentenced to seven years behind bars....
--more--"
"Docs: Ex-Panama dictator Noriega fit to extradite" December 10, 2011
PANAMA CITY—An examination by a team of doctors in France has found former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega fit enough to be extradited to his homeland, Panama's Foreign Ministry said Saturday....
Noriega's critics have called on Panamanians to bang pots and honk their car horns Sunday to show their condemnation of Noriega.
But that protest and Noriega's arrival itself could be overshadowed by Panama City's annual Christmas parade.
--more--"
"Panama’s Noriega returning home to serve time" December 11, 2011|Juan Zamorano, Associated Press
Former military strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega was flown home to Panama on Sunday to be punished once again for crimes he committed during a career that saw him transformed from a close Cold War ally of Washington to the vilified target of a U.S. invasion....
There are those who harbor a certain nostalgia for the Noriega era, prior to the U.S. intervention and before a spike in street gangs and drug violence.
“He did bad things, but he also did good things,’’ said Sabina Delgado, 60, a mother of six who has lived her whole life in El Chorrillo, which has been hit by a wave of violent gang crime. “Imagine, when he was here, the country didn’t have as much crime. There weren’t as much drugs, there was more control.’’
Hatuey Castro, 82, a member of the anti-Noriega opposition who was detained and beaten by Noriega henchmen, begs to disagree....
Though other U.S. conflicts have long since pushed him from the spotlight, the 1989 invasion that ousted Noriega was one of the most bitterly debated events of the Cold War’s waning years.
As he rose in the Panamanian military during the 1970s and 1980s, Noriega cooperated closely with the CIA, helping the U.S. combat leftist movements in Latin America by providing information and logistical help. He also acted as a back channel for U.S. communications with unfriendly governments such as Cuba’s.
But Noriega was playing a double game. He also began working with Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel, and made millions moving cocaine to the United States.
Translation: the U.S. double-crossed him.
As the Cold War waned, and the U.S. war on drugs gained prominence, Noriega’s drug ties became a source of increasing tension. After a U.S. grand jury indicted him on drug charges in 1988, tensions escalated between his forces and U.S. troops stationed around the Panama Canal. A U.S. Marine was killed in one clash. President George H.W. Bush also accused Noriega’s men of abusing a U.S. Navy serviceman and his wife.
On Dec. 20, 1989, more than 26,000 U.S. troops began moving into Panama City, clashing with Noriega loyalists in fighting that left sections of the city devastated.
Twenty-three U.S. troops, 314 Panamanian soldiers, and some 200 civilians died in the operation.
Noriega hid in bombed and burned-out neighborhoods before he sought refuge in the Vatican Embassy, which was besieged by U.S. troops playing loud rock music.
He gave up on Jan. 3, 1990....
Noriega was convicted two years after the invasion, and served 17 years at a minimum-security prison outside Miami, where he received special treatment as a prisoner of war and lived in his own bungalow with a TV and exercise equipment.
When his sentence ended, he was extradited to France, which convicted him for laundering millions of dollars in drug profits through three major French banks, and investing drug cash in three luxury Paris apartments....
--more--"
And what do Panamanians think?
"Noriega’s return to Panama greeted with a shrug; Former dictator imprisoned in changed nation" December 12, 2011|By Juan Zamorano, Associated Press
PANAMA CITY - More than two decades after the United States forced him from power, Manuel Noriega returned to Panama yesterday as a prisoner and, to many of those he once ruled with impunity, an irrelevant man.
Some Panamanians feel hatred for the former strongman and rejected American ally; a few others nostalgia. But as he returned to his native country for the first time since his ouster, it seemed as though few people had any strong feelings at all....
Noriega became a valuable ally to the CIA in the 1970s and ’80s. He helped the United States combat leftist movements in Latin America by providing information and logistical help, and also acted as a back channel for US communications with unfriendly governments such as Cuba’s.
But as the Cold War waned, Noriega became a more powerful and unforgiving dictator at home. Tensions developed between the strongman and US officials, who also had been aware for some time that he was also working with the Colombia-based Medellin drug cartel.
A US grand jury indicted him on drug charges in 1988, escalating tensions between his forces and US troops stationed around the Panama Canal. A US Marine was killed in one clash. President George H.W. Bush also accused Noriega’s men of abusing a US Navy serviceman and his wife.
On Dec. 20, 1989, more than 26,000 US troops began moving into Panama City, clashing with Noriega loyalists in fighting that left sections of the city devastated. Twenty-three US troops, 314 Panamanian soldiers, and 200 civilians died in the operation.
Why do I feel like I've read this intel report already?
The dictator hid in bombed and burned-out neighborhoods before he sought refuge in the Vatican Embassy, which was besieged by US troops playing loud rock music. When he gave up he was flown to Miami for trial on drug-related charges.
Noriega was convicted on the US drug trafficking charges two years after the invasion, and served 17 years. He received special treatment as a prisoner of war and lived in a bungalow with a TV and exercise equipment. When his sentence ended, he was extradited to France, which convicted him for laundering millions of dollars in drug profits through three major French banks, and investing drug cash in three luxury Paris apartments....
Unlike his minimum-security digs outside Miami, Noriega’s cell at El Renacer will be spartan. He will be in a cell without luxuries and in similar conditions to the other inmates, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said.
--more--"
Also see: Noriega is the News