Word: noriega
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Noriega's court appearance will be all the more amazing because few expected to see him stand trial when the indictments first came down in 1988. The State Department, with President Reagan's approval, tried to negotiate his quick departure from power by offering to drop charges. But Noriega wouldn't budge. On Dec. 20, 1989, in what was probably the most destructive and expensive manhunt in history, George Bush launched a full-scale invasion of, Panama. Two weeks later, wearing a nondescript T shirt and handcuffs, Noriega was whisked to Miami, where his pockmarked face and glassy-eyed gaze...
...past 20 months, Noriega has been awaiting trial in what has been dubbed the Dictator's Suite, a two-room cell behind rows of barbed wire at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, south of Miami. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, he is considered a prisoner of war and thus receives 80 Swiss francs (U.S.$50) a month from the U.S. government -- more than enough to pay for a steady supply of his favorite cookies, Oreos. He spends his time studying classified documents, talking on his government-tapped phone and watching Spanish-language soap operas. Like many a cornered scoundrel...
...face of it, bringing Noriega to justice seems to be an unqualifiedly good idea. Who wouldn't applaud the downfall of an odious dictator and the return of Panamanian democracy after 21 years of military rule? Unfortunately, things are not that simple. From Noriega's seizure in Panama to his long incarceration without bail, the U.S. government's relentless pursuit of the general has been a cause for concern to civil libertarians and constitutional experts...
...time Noriega gets done with the system, this case will do more damage to American justice than he could possibly have done as a dictator," complains New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Justice Department officials insist that the deposed tyrant will be tried strictly on the merits of the indictment, but some in Washington admit that the trial is profoundly political. "The guy was a de facto head of state," says an Administration official. "So how can you say the trial isn't political...
That is precisely what the defense team, headed by Noriega's flamboyant lead counsel, Frank Rubino, has been saying all along. Rubino, one of Miami's savviest drug-case lawyers, claims the charges were manufactured because of Noriega's refusal to commit Panamanian soldiers to an invasion of Nicaragua at the request of the U.S. "Just a drug case, huh? Do you believe in the tooth fairy too?" says Rubino. "Like it or not, General Noriega has been an asset of the CIA, the National Security Agency and other government agencies for 20 some years...