Word: noriega
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Instead, defense lawyers are trying to show that Noriega was a loyal U.S. ally in the war on drugs by extracting testimony from a series of former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs and their high-ranking aides. One by one, the flattering "Dear General Noriega" letters sent by former DEA administrators came out in embarrassing procession last week. The authors claimed on the witness stand that they were merely being "diplomatic" and didn't really mean it when they praised Noriega for his "unprecedented" help and "long-standing support." In reality, groused former DEA administrators Peter Bensinger and John Lawn...
Still, various DEA chiefs and attaches admitted that Noriega's Panama Defense Forces had closed down the infamous Darien drug-refining lab of the Medellin cartel, confiscated drug-refining chemicals, helped catch drug traffickers and money launderers, and even closed a cartel-controlled bank. James Bramble, former head of the DEA office in Panama, testified that a P.D.F. tip led to the capture of the cartel's top money launderer, Ramon Milian Rodriguez, when he was in Florida to ship $5.5 million in drug proceeds to Panama. His arrest occurred at about the same time that the prosecution claims Noriega...
...prosecution case, based largely on testimony from former drug traffickers who have received lenient treatment for their cooperation, was weak on some key points, most notably the inability of Noriega's colleagues to agree on payoffs the general allegedly took from the cartel to protect the Darien lab. Although 15,000 boxes of documents were seized by U.S. troops during the 1989 invasion, the lone scrap of written evidence about Noriega's involvement in drugs was a piece of yellow notepaper with some scribbled words on it. As the defense pointed out, it could well have been notes...
...prosecution's most sensational witness -- ex-Medellin drug boss Carlos Lehder -- testified that at one point 80% of all Colombian cocaine shipments were flowing through Panama, yielding Noriega $1 million a month in payoffs for looking the other way. Yet despite his cartel position, Lehder never met Noriega and had no direct knowledge of payoffs. But drug trafficker Gabriel Taboada testified that he saw Noriega visit the Medellin cartel offices and accept a bag with $500,000, while drug pilot Roberto Streidinger said he delivered a gift of six dancing girls...
...betting around the courthouse is that only two racketeering counts against Noriega will stick. Meanwhile, the DEA reports, drug trafficking is again on the rise in Panama. U.S. investigators are looking into links between traffickers and the law firm of Guillermo Endara, who became Panama's President when Noriega was overthrown...