Noriega

=According to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Archive" title="National Security Archive" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">National Security Archive</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Oliver North</a> had been in contact with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega" title="Manuel Noriega" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Manuel Noriega</a>, the military leader of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama" title="Panama" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Panama</a> later convicted on drug charges, whom he personally met. The issue of drug money and its importance in funding the Nicaraguan conflict was the subject of various reports and publications. The contras were funded by drug trafficking, of which the United States was aware.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-archive-53" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[53]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="background: none; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Senator</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry" title="John Kerry" style="background: none; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">John Kerry</a>'s 1988 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Foreign_Relations" title="United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations" style="background: none; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Committee on Foreign Relations</a> report on Contra drug links concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[54]</a>The Reagan administration's support for the Contras continued to stir controversy well into the 1990s. In August 1996, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_Mercury_News" title="San Jose Mercury News" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">San Jose Mercury News</a> reporter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb" title="Gary Webb" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Gary Webb</a> published a series titled Dark Alliance, alleging that the contras contributed to the rise of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_cocaine" title="Crack cocaine" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">crack cocaine</a> in California.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[55]</a> In his subsequent 1999 book, also titled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Alliance" title="Dark Alliance" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Dark Alliance</a>, Webb asserted that the Reagan administration helped harbor known drug traffickers, offering political asylum to some, to help raise funds for the rebel effort.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[56]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Propaganda[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Propaganda" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>During the time the US Congress blocked funding for the contras, the Reagan government engaged in a campaign to alter public opinion and change the vote in Congress on contra aid.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.5-57" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[57]</a> For this purpose, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Security_Council" title="United States National Security Council" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">NSC</a> established an interagency working group which in turn coordinated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Public_Diplomacy" title="Office of Public Diplomacy" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Office of Public Diplomacy</a> for Latin America and the Caribbean (managed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Reich" title="Otto Reich" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Otto Reich</a>), which conducted the campaign.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.5-57" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[57]</a> The S/LPD produced and widely disseminated a variety of pro-contra publications, arranged speeches and press conferences.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.5-57" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[57]</a> It also disseminated "white propaganda"—pro-contra newspaper articles by paid consultants who did not disclose their connection to the Reagan administration.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[58]</a>On top of that, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Oliver North</a> helped Carl Channell's tax-exempt organization, the "National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty", to raise $10 million, by arranging numerous briefings for groups of potential contributors at the premises of the White House and by facilitating private visits and photo sessions with President Reagan for major contributors.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.6-59" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[59]</a> Channell in turn, used part of that money to run a series of television advertisements directed at home districts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressman" class="mw-redirect" title="Congressman" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">Congressmen</a> considered to be swing votes on contra aid.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.6-59" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[59]</a> Out of the $10 million raised, more than $1 million was spent on pro-contra publicity.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.6-59" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background: none;">[59]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega</a>

Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-0">[1]</a> (Spanish pronunciation: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_Spanish" title="Wikipedia:IPA for Spanish">[maˈnwel noˈɾjeɣa]</a>; born February 11, 1934) is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama" title="Panama">Panamanian</a> politician and soldier. He was <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dictator" title="Military dictator">military dictator</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama" title="Panama">Panama</a> from 1983 to 1989.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-t-1">[2]</a>

The 1989 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama" title="United States invasion of Panama">invasion of Panama</a> by the United States removed him from power; he was captured, detained as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war" title="Prisoner of war">prisoner of war</a>, and flown to the United States. Noriega was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial" title="Trial">tried</a> on eight counts of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade" title="Illegal drug trade">drug trafficking</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racket_%28crime%29" title="Racket (crime)">racketeering</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering" title="Money laundering">money laundering</a> in April 1992. Noriega's U.S. prison sentence ended in September 2007;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-XFman-2">[3]</a> pending the outcome of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition" title="Extradition">extradition</a> requests by both Panama and France, for convictions <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_absentia" title="In absentia">in absentia</a> for murder in 1995 and money laundering in 1999, respectively. France was granted its extradition request in April 2010. He arrived in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris" title="Paris">Paris</a> on April 27, 2010,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-3">[4]</a> and after a re-trial as a condition of the extradition, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail in July 2010.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-AP_2010-4">[5]</a>

...

<h3>Involvement with CIA</h3>

Although the relationship did not become contractual until 1967, Noriega worked with the U.S. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency">Central Intelligence Agency</a> (CIA) from the late 1950s until the 1980s.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-5">[6]</a> In 1988 the U.S. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Enforcement_Administration" title="Drug Enforcement Administration">Drug Enforcement Administration</a> indicted him on federal drug charges.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-6">[7]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-7">[</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-7">8]</a>

The 1988 Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations concluded that "The saga of Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures for the United States. Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, Noriega was able to manipulate U.S. policy toward his country, while skillfully accumulating near-absolute power in Panama. It is clear that each U.S. government agency which had a relationship with Noriega turned a blind eye to his corruption and drug dealing, even as he was emerging as a key player on behalf of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel" title="Medellín Cartel">Medellín Cartel</a> (a member of which was notorious Colombian drug lord <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar" title="Pablo Escobar">Pablo Escobar</a>)." Noriega was allowed to establish "the hemisphere's first '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptocracy" title="Kleptocracy">narcokleptocracy</a>'".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega#cite_note-8">[9]</a> One of the large financial institutions that he was able to use to launder money was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International" title="Bank of Credit and Commerce International">Bank of Credit and Commerce International</a> (BCCI) which was shut down at the end of the Cold War by the FBI. Noriega shared his cell with ex-BCCI executives in the facility that is known as "Club Med".

<a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/_{lormand/poli/soa/panama.htm">}http://www-personal.umich.edu/_{lormand/poli/soa/panama.htm</a>}

PANAMA:

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THE RESUMÉ OF MANUEL NORIEGA,

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THE MOST FAMOUS GRADUATE OF THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS

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(1) Noriega, considered "outstanding" at the SOA, is on the CIA payroll (to the tune of up to $100,000 a year) from the mid-�60s to the mid-�80s.

(2) His drug trafficking, though known, is no obstacle to his chumminess with George Bush (CIA director and "Vice" President) during the �70s and early �80s.

(3) His true crime is being an independent leader of Panama, just before the US is obliged to return the stolen Panama Canal Zone on January 1st, 1990.

(4) So after publicly demonizing his longtime friend and employee, Bush slaughters thousands of Panamanians and installs a puppet government, in the nick of time, on December 20th, 1989.

(5) Let�s not call any more presidents "wimps", ok? It just pisses �em off.

The gory details�

50s-60s Spy for US, informing on colleagues in his socialist party, and on leftist students at his Peruvian military academy. � New York Times, 9/28/88

1967 Finishes courses at SOA including Infantry Officer, Combat Intelligence Officer, Military Intelligence (Counter-Intelligence Officer Course), and Jungle Operations. An instructor calls him "outstanding." � John Dinges, Our Man in Panama, 1991

1971 US has "hard evidence" of his heavy involvement in drug trafficking, "sufficient for indictment". Nixon sets in motion initial plans for his assassination. � Frontline (PBS), 1/30/90

1970-76 Meanwhile, Noriega is in the pay of the CIA and the Pentagon, reportedly receiving more than $100,000 per year. � Newsweek, 1/15/90

1976 CIA Director George Bush gives him a VIP tour of CIA headquarters in Washington; he resides with Bush's Deputy Director. � Dinges

1977 Carter officials reportedly remove him from the US payroll. � New York Times, 10/2/88

1979 Gives haven to the overthrown Shah of Iran, brutal US-installed dictator.

1981 Becomes part of a ruling military junta after 13-year dictator and SOA graduate General Omar Torrijos dies in a plane crash, later blamed on Noriega and the CIA by other junta members.

Reagan/Bush officials put him back on the US payroll, again reportedly at more than $100,000 per year. � San Francisco Chronicle, 6/11/87

1981-83 Extensive drug trafficking and money laundering involving the Medellin, Colombia cocaine cartel. � Dinges

8/83 Seizes command of the National Guard (to be renamed "Panama Defense Forces"). He is the effective chief of state.

11/83 Washington visits with White House, State Department and Pentagon, including CIA Director William Casey. � Newsweek, 1/15/90

1983-86 The US loves him for: spying on Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega; allowing the United States to set up listening posts in Panama, with which they monitor sensitive communications in all of Central America and beyond; aiding the American warfare against the rebels in El Salvador and the government of Nicaragua (facilitating the flow of money and arms to the contras, allowing the US to base spy planes in Panama in clear violation of the canal treaties, giving the US permission to train contras in Panama, and spying in support of American sabotage inside of Nicaragua). � Newsweek, 1/15/90

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The American love/hate relationship �

1983-86 The US hates him for: suspected spying for Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega; helping Cuba circumvent the US economic embargo; helping to get weapons for the Sandinistas and for the guerrillas m El Salvador and Colombia; transferring high technology to Eastern Europe.

1984 The CIA and the Medellin cartel help finance the campaign of Noriega�s candidate for President, Nicolas Barletta. Barletta is declared the winner ten days after the election, while the US ambassador hides from the media information that Barletta had been defeated by at least four thousand votes. Political opposition parties demonstrate for weeks against the egregious fraud, to no avail. Reagan welcomes Barletta to the Oval Office, and Secretary of State George Schultz attends the inauguration.

1985 A few enthusiastic Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents and US Attorneys, keeping a low profile, begin investigations into his drug activities.

6/86 The New York Times carries a front-page story recounting many of his questionable activities, including his drug trafficking and money laundering operations, and the murder of a political opponent. It is the most detailed and damning report on him to appear in the US media. The Reagan administration reassures him that he need not be overly concerned about the story.

7/86 Oliver North arranges for an American public relations firm to work on improving Panama's and Noriega's image, in return for continued support of the Nicaraguan sabotage campaign. � Iran-Contra testimony of PR firm official

see<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/_{nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm"> http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm</a>}

1987 Drug Enforcement Agency head John Lawn praises Noriega�s "personal commitment" in helping to solve a major money laundering case. High US law enforcement officials, including Lawn, work alongside Noriega at a meeting of Interpol, even advising him on how to achieve a better public image. � Los Angeles Times, 1/16/90

1988 Indictment on Federal drug charges. (His principal protectors in Washington are gone: North had been relieved of his duties in 1986, Casey had died in 1987.) All the charges relate to activities prior to June 1984 (except for one drugs/arms deal in 1986). The DEA is deeply divided between those who investigated him as a criminal and those who swore by the authenticity of his cooperation with their agency. � Dinges.

5/89 The CIA provides more than $10 million in aid to Noriega�s opposition. When the ballot counting indicated his candidate losing heavily, he stops the electoral process and allows violence against opposition candidates and their supporters. Unlike 1984, Washington expresses its moral indignation about the fraudulent election. � US News & World Report, 5/1/89

10/89 Elements of the Panamanian Defense Forces take custody of him for two hours and offer to turn him over to the US military, but are refused (Bush has never clearly explained this decision). They receive no US support, and pro-Noriega forces free him.� New York Times, 10/8/90

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Another brutal American invasion�

12/89 The US invades Panama, ostensibly in order to capture Noriega, who is in a Florida prison serving a forty-year sentence for drug trafficking. The official body count is approximately 500 Panamanians (mainly civilians) dead, but nongovernmental sources with no less evidence count thousands more; there are also over 3,000 wounded, tens of thousands left homeless. Plus 23 American dead, 324 wounded. Reporter: "Was it really worth it to send people to their death for this? To get Noriega?" Bush: "[E]very human life is precious, and yet I have to answer, yes, it has been worth it." � New York Times, 12/22/89

1990 The original post-invasion plans called for outright US military government, with the head of the US Army Southern command as Panama�s de facto ruler. At the last minute a decision is made to install Guillermo Endara as president, but his government is "merely a façade". � official Pentagon study of the Panama occupation, cited in The Nation, 10/3/94. Endara, one of the two vice presidents, and the attorney general, all have links to drug trafficking and money laundering. � EXTRA!, 1/90. The US confiscates thousands of boxes of Noriega government documents and refuses to hand over any of them to Panamanian investigators. "The United States is protecting robbers and thieves and obstructing justice. We are the owners of the documents. If I am to complete my work, I have to see the documents." � Panama�s chief prosecutor, Los Angeles Times, 6/23/90

1991 Colombian drug cartels and associates of Noriega once again turn Panama into a narcotics transshipment center; there are far more cocaine production facilities than ever existed under Noriega, and drug use in Panama is reportedly at a far higher level. � Los Angeles Times, 4/28/91

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The Organization of American States approved a resolution "to deeply regret the military intervention in Panama" by a vote of 20 to 1 (the US).

"We are outraged � [the OAS] missed an historic opportunity to get beyond its traditional narrow concern with nonintervention." � Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman, Los Angeles Times, 12/23/89.

"This land is my land, that land is my land, there�s no land here that isn�t my land." � US soldiers singing near the Vatican Embassy, where Noriega had taken sanctuary during the invasion.

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<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=School_of_the_Americas">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=School_of_the_Americas</a>

grads

<table><tbody><tr><td> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina" title="Argentina">Argentina</a></td><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Galtieri" title="Leopoldo Galtieri">Leopoldo Galtieri</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Eduardo_Viola" title="Roberto Eduardo Viola">Roberto Eduardo Viola</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/13a1b37c-4e09-51eb-9157-372b2c15a96e.png"/> <a title="Bolivia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia">Bolivia</a></td><td><a class="mw-redirect" title="Hugo Banzer Suárez" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Banzer_Su%C3%A1rez">Hugo Banzer Suárez</a>, <a title="Luis Arce Gómez" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Arce_G%C3%B3mez">Luis Arce Gómez</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/23572e82-ac71-50a7-8e43-4d7f79c56034.png"/> <a title="Chile" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile">Chile</a></td><td><a title="Raúl Iturriaga" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Iturriaga">Raúl Iturriaga</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/bafff7d9-4718-593a-a30a-ae56c2de4e82.png"/> <a title="Ecuador" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador">Ecuador</a></td><td><a title="Guillermo Rodríguez (politician)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Rodr%C3%ADguez_%28politician%29">Guillermo Rodríguez</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/fcde3ad8-a679-559f-977d-e216cfd6b728.png"/> <a title="El Salvador" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador">El Salvador</a></td><td><a title="Roberto D'Aubuisson" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_D%27Aubuisson">Roberto D'Aubuisson</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/2abab139-96f2-5534-b581-a107c75b0abe.png"/> <a title="Guatemala" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala">Guatemala</a></td><td><a title="Marco Antonio Yon Sosa" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Antonio_Yon_Sosa">Marco Antonio Yon Sosa</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation#cite_note-33">[34]</a>

<a class="mw-redirect" title="Efrain Rios Montt" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efrain_Rios_Montt">Efrain Rios Montt</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation#cite_note-34">[35]</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/296477b6-6483-5d04-b184-9c882be6a88c.png"/> <a title="Panama" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama">Panama</a></td><td><a title="Manuel Noriega" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega">Manuel Noriega</a>, <a title="Omar Torrijos" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Torrijos">Omar Torrijos</a></td></tr><tr><td><img src="/70f1f715-1558-522e-80cb-44730c1dae3d.png"/> <a title="Peru" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peru">Peru</a></td><td><a title="Vladimiro Montesinos" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimiro_Montesinos">Vladimiro Montesinos</a>, <a title="Juan Velasco Alvarado" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Velasco_Alvarado">Juan Velasco Alvarado</a></td></tr></tbody></table>