Word: panama
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...least, the troubles are all in Noriega's corner. The twelve-count racketeering indictment alleges that between 1981 and 1986 Noriega received payments of more than $4.6 million from Colombia's Medellin cartel. Prosecutors claim that in return he permitted the drug lords to use Panama as a refining and transshipment point for cocaine and as a sanctuary for themselves while the profits were laundered in Panamanian banks and false- front companies, usually with a suitable cut for the general...
Noriega faces a second indictment in a Tampa court charging that he took a bribe from a trafficker who was importing more than 1.4 million lbs. of marijuana into the U.S. If he manages to beat the rap in both American jurisdictions, he may face more serious trouble in Panama. The country's new leaders say they hope to bring him to account on charges that could include the torture and killing of political opponents. "He will be tried for these things," vowed Panamanian Vice President Guillermo Ford, adding briskly, "Not lynching -- due process...
...important witness who has not been charged with any crimes is Jose Blandon, former consul general of Panama in New York and a onetime member of Noriega's inner circle. After breaking with the dictator two years ago, Blandon told a Miami grand jury that in Havana in 1984 he watched Fidel Castro mediate a dispute between Noriega and members of the Medellin cartel after Panamanian troops closed down a drug laboratory that Noriega had been paid to protect...
...basis for one of the charges in the Miami indictment. Blandon maintains that Castro was not so much interested in furthering the drug trade as he was in preventing the drug lords from destabilizing Noriega, who was helping Cuba get around U.S. trade restrictions through false-front companies in Panama that purchased Western goods...
...strengthen their case, prosecutors are sifting through documents seized by U.S. troops who invaded Noriega's Panama headquarters. Noriega's attorneys are likely to claim that the military's warrantless search makes the evidence inadmissible in court. Few legal observers expect that objection to hamper the prosecution; American constitutional safeguards usually apply only within the nation's borders...