Word: panama
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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They didn't know it then, but that was the start of one of the most remarkable episodes in the history of U.S. law enforcement: the capture and prosecution of General Manuel Antonio Noriega, head of the Panama Defense Forces and "Maximum Leader" of his country. The Cessna's pilot, captured four months later, provided the first testimony linking the strongman to drug running. On Sept. 3, almost six years after that steamy chase, Noriega will walk into downtown Miami's federal courthouse to face a 12-count indictment. He is charged with taking $4.6 million in payoffs between...
...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 were captured in a police mug shot of Prisoner No. 41586. For the first time in history, the U.S. was about to try the leader...
...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...
...Cubans. But none of his former high-ranking officers say Noriega ever moved drugs or even formed a partnership with the Colombian drug lords. Former Major Felipe Camargo did confirm that Noriega received a multimillion-dollar bribe from Colombian drug lords in 1984 in exchange for safe haven in Panama. But Camargo also said the only bid by the general's men to get into the drug business in a major way was an unsuccessful attempt by Colonel Julian Melo to process cocaine at Darien in Panama...
...served no time at all, while Noriega's trusted bagman Lieut. Colonel Luis del Cid got his 70-year sentence reduced to a 10-year maximum. Another defendant who is presumably trying to cut a deal is Ricardo Bilonick, a Tulane-educated lawyer who was whisked back from Panama last week to face charges of running cocaine on his Panamanian cargo airline, Inair...