NORIEGA (MORENA), MANUEL (ANTONIO)

(Feb. 11, 1938, Panama City, Pan.), Panamanian military leader, commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces (198389), who, for the years of his command, was the actual power behind the civilian president. Noriega was born into a poor family of Colombian extraction. Educated at one of the top high schools in Panama, he took a scholarship to the Military School de Chorrios in Lima, Peru. Upon his return to Panama, he was commissioned a sublieutenant in the National Guard (Guardia Nacional) and stationed in Coln, where he became acquainted with Captain Omar Torrijos. Noriega was promoted to first lieutenant and was instrumental in the military coup that brought down the government of Arnulfo Arias and in a later coup attempt to unseat Torrijos. For his loyalty, Noriega was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was named chief of military intelligence, in which position he established contact with the U.S. intelligence service. His service to Richard Nixon's administrationhelping, for example, to obtain the release of two American freighter crews from Havana, Cubawas coloured by persistent reports of his involvement in drug trafficking. As the head of the Panamanian intelligence service, Noriega also was known for the tactics of intimidation and harassment that he used against opposition groups and their leaders; by the late 1970s he was considered to be the most feared man in Panama. When in 1981 Torrijos died in a plane crash, military and civilian leaders struggled to gain the upper hand. In 1983 Noriega succeeded to the command of the National Guard, unified the armed forces into the Panamanian Defense Forces, and promoted himself to the rank of general. Charges against Noriega mounted in the mid-1980s over events connected with the blatant and brutal murder of Hugo Spadafora, a vocal opponent. Further evidence of the laundering of drug money and the sale of restricted American technology and information brought an inevitable conflict with the U.S. government to a head, particularly in light of the imminent transfer of power agreed upon in the Panama Canal Treaty. When in 1989 an attempted military coup against Noriega failed, the United States invaded Panama, chiefly for the purpose of capturing Noriega (which it succeeded in doing on Jan. 3, 1990) and bringing him to trial in the United States. In 1992, in a U.S. federal court, he was convicted of cocaine trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering.