Manuel Noriega, Former Dictator of Panama, Dead at 83

Former Panama dictator, drug trafficker, and sometime informant of the United States, Manuel Antonio Noriega, is dead at 83.

Yesterday, the Cruzada Civilista, which led street protests against his regime, said a Noriega-style tyranny "must never be repeated". The U.S. cut off aid to Panama in 1987, and President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of the country in December 1989, sending 24,000 troops to topple the Noriega government. "He was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992, but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died". After surgery in March, Noriega's daughters said he suffered a hemorrhage that left him in grave condition.

The notorious politician and military officer passed around 11 p.m. Monday, at Santo Tomás Hospital in Panama City, according to the New York Times.

Following years of ill health that included respiratory problems, prostate cancer and depression, his family pleaded with the authorities to let him to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest.

Here's the announcement from Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela ...

Following Noriega's downfall, the country of Panama experienced widespread changes, including assuming control over the Panama Canal from the U.S.in 1999, vastly expanding the waterway and enjoying a boom in tourism and real estate.

"With the death of Mr. Noriega, one chapter of our history is closed, and another opens, one in which we must ensure that we don't repeat the previous era", said Augusto Yañez, a 46-year-old lawyer in Panama City.

He joined Panama's Defense Forces in 1962 and steadily rose through the ranks, mainly through loyalty to his mentor, Gen. Omar Torrijos, who became Panama's de facto leader after a 1968 coup. Noriega oversaw the army's corrupt off-book deals, and ran the secret police force. He spent the final years of his life in a Panamanian prison for murder of political opponents during his cruel and brutal reign. It was just months before Noriega would surrender power amid a USA military operation against his government.

Noriega was a Cold War ally of the United States in a region where Soviet-backed insurgencies threatened American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere.

Noriega "possessed the uncanny ability to absorb information, size up the options available to an adversary, place himself in the other person's shoes and astutely anticipate probable courses of action", says John Dinges, author of the Noriega biography Our Man in Panama.

After his capture, Noriega tried to turn the tables on the United States, saying it had worked hand in glove with him.