Manuel Noriega
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Origins
Manuel Antonio Noriega Morena was born in 1934 in Terraplén, a poor neighborhood of Panama City. Orphaned at the age of five, Noriega spent his childhood in the care of a godmother. As a teen, "Tony" attended the prestigious Instituto Nacional and affirmed a desire to study Medicine. Family finances being insufficient for medical school, Noriega enrolled in the Chorillos Military Academy in Peru, where, through his half-brother, a minor official in the Panamanian embassy, he had been awarded a scholarship.[1]
At Chorillos Noriega first evidenced the ruthless and violent tendencies he would exhibit as head of the Panamanian intelligence service and later as Panama's military dictator. Frederick Kempe reports that, while on weekend leave in the summer of 1960 Noriega "had been arrested for beating and raping a prostitute" who had refused her services, and then eased "himself out of the perdicament with the police."[2] "His brutality and ability to evade the consequences thereof," writes Lt. General Edward M. Flanagan Jr, "were beginning to become manifest."[3]
Noriega's time at Chorillos produced a long and relatively fruitful, if not tense and strenuous, relationship with American intelligence agencies. Having been recruited by an intelligence officer at the U.S. embassy, he provided his contacts with information regarding cadets with leftist tendencies.
Noriega and the U.S.: The Early Years, 1967-1981
Manuel Noriega returned to Panama in 1963 with a commission in the Panamanian National Guard. His commander, Captain Omar Torrijos, took a keen interest in the young sublieutenant. In 1967, with Torrijos' help, Noriega received special intelligence training at Fort Gulick, Canal Zone, psychological operations training in the United States at Fort Bragg, and two months of Intelligence training at the School of the Americas. In 1968, having been promoted to first lieutenant, Noriega took part in a military coup led by Torrijos to remove Panamanian president Arnulfo Arias. Torrijos, with the support of the Panamanian military establishment, rid Panama of political parties and outlawed independent media outlets as he consolidated power. Torrijos made Noriega his chief of military intelligence and, in this capacity, he acted as Torrijos' right hand man, brutally snuffing out popular opposition to the new military government. The Torrijos coup ultimately "introduced an era of military rule that survived until Noriega's downfall twenty-one years later."[4]
During the 1970s Noriega proved both a bane and boon to the United States. As a prominent member of the Torrijos administration, he was a target of the Nixon administration's war on Drugs. Nixon reported to congress in 1971 that he "had considerable evidence that Torrijos and...Noriega, had established a multimillion-dollar drug business in Panama through its embassies, consulates, and airports and through "custom offices in the Far East and the Americas.""[5] The Nixon administration, irked by the fact that Noriega was in bed with the Colombian cartels, proposed "a decisive action... for destroying or immobilizing the highest level of trafficers." [6] This "decisive action" included, according to Flanagan, "assassination and other measures to control Noriega."[7] This proposal was ultimately rejected.
As much as his involvement in the drug trade may have irked Nixon and his successors, Noriega's special position as America's only reliable source for regional intelligence made him a tremendously valuable asset. For the majority of the decade, the United States paid $110,000 per year for information on "Latin American military establishments, Castro's Cuba, and the emerging guerrilla movements in the region."[8] While he provided the U.S. with reliable information, evidence suggests that he served a similar function for Cuba, dispensing information regarding American activities in the Region. For his willingness to cater to all interests, members of the U.S. state department dubbed him "the rent-a-colonel."
In 1977, the CIA cut all financial ties with Noriega on the grounds of egregious violations of human rights. Noriega, however, maintained his ties with the United States, sans compensation. He continued to provide "reliable intelligence, available from no other source, on Latin American insurgencies, arrested small-level drug traffickers,"[9] turning several over to the United States, and, in early 1980, played host to the ousted Shah of Iran.
Panama Under Noriega: Prelude to invasion,1981-1989
In 1981 Omar Torrijos died in a plane crash in western Panama. In the ensuing power struggle Noriega supported the winner, General Dario Paredes. After some clever political maneuvering, which ended in Paredes'"retirement," Noriega took command of the Panamanian National Guard in 1983, making him the de facto head of state. He immediately promoted himself General and united the National Guard with the national navy and air force, forming an Israeli styled Panamanian Defense Force. He had legislation passed ensuring military control of nearly all of Panama's national infrastructure, ensuring military and, ultimately, as commander in chief, personal control of the country.
Noriega again found himself on the CIA's bankroll in the 1980s, albeit for different reasons. He continued to supply the CIA with reliable information, and also served as an intermediary between the United States and the Contra rebels fighting in Nicaragua. For this he was well compensated financially, but perhaps more importantly, the Reagan administration overlooked his involvement with the Medellin Cartel.[10] His involvement with the drug trade would play heavily in George Bush's decision to invade Panama in 1989.
As the decade progressed, criticism, particularly of Noriega's involvement in the Latin American drug trade and continual human rights violations, increased. 1984 saw the first free election in Panama in 16 years. The election was an absolute farce, with Noriega’s candidate, Nicolás Ardito Barletta claiming victory by a narrow margin. The United States immediately recognized Barletta, a graduate of the University of Chicago and a former pupil of the Secretary of State George Schultz, as Panama’s legitimate executive. Barletta's tenure lasted only a year. Noriega relieved him of his duties after discovering that he had been investigating the murder of popular dissident Hugo Spadafora, and replaced him with his first vice president, Eric Arturo Delvalle. Spadafora, long a critic of Noriega, had returned to Panama in 1985, threatening to topple the General's regime with information he had uncovered about the Panamanian Defense Force's ties to the Colombian drug cartels. Noriega had him assassinated.[11]
By 1988, the United States had had enough of Manuel Noriega, especially his unwillingness to curb drug trafficking through Panama. The United States declared Noriega's regime "illegitimate," preferring to recognize the then exiled Delvalle's government, and instituted economic sanctions.[12] Initially hoping to avoid direct confrontation, the Reagan administration sought either an internal breakdown or a peaceful solution to the issue. The first almost came to fruition on the morning of March 16, 1988 in the form of an attempted coup. Several air force officers lead by Leonidas Macias attacked Noriega's command head quarters. They were dealt with quickly, and, according to one source, "by early afternoon Noriega was posing for photographs and chatting with reporters from steps outside his office."[13] In the wake of the failed coup, the U.S. sent negotiators to work out some sort of settlement whereby Noriega would resign. These attempts to force a resignation failed, and as 1988 came to an end Noriega's position seemed as tenable as ever.
This changed the following year. In 1989 Noriega again held elections. A poll taken by the Catholic Church showed Panamanians overwhelmingly in support of opposition candidate Guillermo Endara. Noriega had lost nearly all of his popular support. Rather than allow Endara the presidency he annulled the election, and his loyalists attacked opposition candidates during a street protest in full view of U.S. television cameras.[14]
Following the botched election, things got worse for the Noriega. On October 3, a company of soldiers stationed at Noriega's command headquarters captured and held the dictator for several hours. He was rescued by loyal soldiers. John Dinges reports that, shortly after the October coup attempt, the newly inaugurated president George Bush decided "to reactivate plans for a massive military intervention to smash not only Noriega but the entire Panamanian Defense Force as an institution," and ordered "heavy offensive military equipment" shipped to Panama "under cover of regular supply shipments to us bases."[15]
On December 15, 1989 Noriega called together the national assembly that passed a resolution stating: "The Republic of Panama is declared to be in a state of war while the aggression lasts...To confront this aggression, the job of chief of government of Panama is hereby created, and Manuel Antonio Noriega is designated to carry out these responsibilities as Maximum Leader for national liberation."[16] Noriega had declared himself supreme executive of Panama. Small confrontations between Panamanian Defense Force members and American military personnel occurred regularly in the days leading up to the invasion. On December 20th, 1989, US forces invaded Panama in the largest American military operation since the Vietnam war.
Conclusion
On January 3, 1990, Manuel Noriega walked through the iron gates of the Vatican embassy in Panama city and surrendered. In Noriega, the U.S. had created an enemy of its own. Successive administrations when faced with the option to terminate the relationship an the man had failed to do so on the basis of his importance as a useful source of information. At the time of his capture he was responsible for innumerable human rights violations, and, as an ally of the Colombian drug cartels, Noriega ensured that billions, if not more, in illegal drugs entered the United States.
References
- ↑ Edward M. Flanagan Jr., Battle for Panama: Inside Operation Just Cause. (New York: Brassey's,1993)pp.3-4
- ↑ Frederick Kempe, Divorcing the Dictator. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1990)pp.47-48
- ↑ Flanagan, Battle.p.4
- ↑ Flanagan, Battle.p.5
- ↑ Flanagan, Battle.p.5-7
- ↑ Flanagan, Battle.p.5-6
- ↑ Jon Ingersoll, as referenced in: Flanagan, Battle.p.6
- ↑ Flanagan,Battle.p.6
- ↑ Flanagan, Battle.p.7
- ↑ Kornbluh Testimony, online at:<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/pktstmny.htm> & "Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations" collection, accessed online at: <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm#3>
- ↑ John Dinges, Our Man In Panama: The Shrews Rise and Brutal Fall of Manuel Noriega. (New York: Random House, 1991)pp.220-223. Also in: Kempe, Divorcing, Ch.5 "The Spadafora Murder"
- ↑ Ronald Reagan, Statement on Economic Sanctions Against Panama. Accessed online at: <http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/031188a.htm>
- ↑ Dinges, Our Man,p.299
- ↑ Dinges, Our Man,p.304-305
- ↑ Dinges, Our Man, p.306
- ↑ Dinges, Our Man,p.307
Links
"The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations" http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm#3a
"Kornbluh Testimony" http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/pktstmny.htm
"Statement on Economic Sanctions Against Panama" http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/031188a.htm