Noriega headed home / Noriega volta à casa

Panama's ex-ruler Noriega headed home after 22 years

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 9:33 AM EST, Sun December 11, 2011

Police in Panama City pass next to a street vendor's stand decorated with pictures and articles of Manuel Noriega on Friday..

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Manuel Noriega is expected to arrive in Panama late Sunday afternoon
• Panamanian officials want him to face justice there
• The former dictator has been convicted of crimes in the United States and France

Panama City (CNN) -- Former dictator Manuel Noriega left France for Panama on Sunday, nearly 22 years after U.S. forces forcibly removed him from office.
The 77-year-old is expected to arrive in Panama City on Sunday after a stop in Spain.
Panamanian officials want him to face justice in the killing of Hugo Spadafora, his political opponent. Noriega was convicted in absentia in Spadafora's kidnapping and killing in 1985.
He has been in France since 2010 after two decades in an American prison.
For almost two decades, Noriega was a major player in a country of critical regional importance to the United States because of its location on the Panama Canal. The key strategic and economic waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on the narrow isthmus links the Americas.
While in U.S. custody, he suffered from prostate cancer and a stroke.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents accompany Manuel Noriega on board a plane bound for the U.S. from Panama in 1990.

Authorities have strengthened security to guarantee Noriega's safety in prison, according to Panamanian Foreign Minister Roberto Henriquez.
"We have to be ready for all the possibilities in all aspects. Noriega inspires very big emotions, and Noriega's life could very well be at risk in Panama," Henriquez said.
Judicial officials in Panama will determine whether Noriega can stand trial, Henriquez said.
Interior Minister Roxana Mendez said Noriega will receive the same treatment as other inmates at the prison.
"The Panamanian state has no special consideration when it comes to him serving his sentence inside the prison complex," Mendez said. "However, based on our laws, and if there's a valid request from his attorneys, they can ask that he be transferred from the prison to house arrest if the inmate's health is in jeopardy or if the inmate, being over 70 years old, may face risks inside the prison complex."
Last year, a French court sentenced Noriega to seven years in prison for laundering 2.3 million euros ($2.9 million)money through banks there. He was ordered to pay the money back.
Noriega denied the charges.

Panama prepares for Noriega's return

 

The U.S. government has portrayed Noriega as the ultimate crooked cop -- a man who was paid millions by the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia to protect cocaine and money shipments. He was convicted of drug trafficking and other crimes in the United States.
Noriega was indicted in the United States on charges of racketeering, laundering drug money and drug trafficking. He was accused of having links to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar's notorious Medellin cartel and, in the process, amassing a multimillion-dollar fortune.
Amid growing unrest in Panama, U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in December 1989, saying his rule posed a threat to U.S. lives and property.
Noriega fled his offices and tried to seek sanctuary in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City.
He surrendered in January 1990 and was quickly escorted to the United States for civilian trial.

CNN's Rafael Romo contributed to this report.