Panama's ex-dictator Noriega hospitalised

6 Feb 2012, 11:49 am   -   Source: AAP
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Noriega faces three separate sentences after being convicted in absentia for crimes committed in Panama, including the murder of critics. (AP)

Noriega faces three separate sentences after being convicted in absentia for crimes committed in Panama, including the murder of critics. (AP)

The 77-year-old former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has been taken from his prison cell to a hospital after a possible stroke.

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Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has been hospitalised for what officials have described as "hypertension with a possibility of a stroke".

The 77-year-old Noriega, who is incarcerated for crimes committed while in office, was taken from his prison cell to the Hospital Santo Tomas, police said in a statement.

The ex-military ruler, who spent more than two decades behind bars in the United States and France, arrived back in Panama on December 11, 2011.

A military dictator from 1983 to 1989, Noriega faces three separate sentences after being convicted in absentia for crimes committed in Panama, including the murder of critics.

He also faces a series of other complaints for human rights abuses.

Noriega spent 20 years in a Miami prison on drug charges after his overthrow, and was then extradited to France, where he was sentenced to six years in prison for laundering money for the Medellin drug cartel. He spent nearly two years behind bars before he was extradited.

A truth commission in Panama found 110 cases of murders and forced disappearances of Noriega opponents during his dictatorship.

The return of Noriega, who was on the CIA's payroll from 1968 to 1986 before he became an enemy of Washington, has sparked speculation at the possibility that he could reveal secrets about political figures and wealth amassed under his regime.

Noriega's rule came to an end when then US president George H.W. Bush ordered US troops to invade Panama on December 20, 1989, claiming it was necessary to safeguard US citizens, secure the US-built canal, battle drug trafficking and defend democracy.

Noriega is serving three 20-year jail terms for the abduction and murder of three opponents: Hugo Spadafora, a doctor and former deputy health minister, in 1985; Captain Moises Giroldi in 1989; and union activist Heliodoro Portugal in 1970.

There was speculation he may leave prison, as Panama allows convicts 70 years and older to serve their time at home.

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Your Comments

A Dangerous planet

Wag - from Sydney, 4 months ago

According to the USA every leader that disagrees with them is a criminal ,when was the last time a member of the US war congress actually serve time ?

Tragically CIA/USA foreign policy has not changed

Mona - from Australia, 4 months ago

Noriega, was on the CIA's payroll from 1968 to 1986 & the CIA was instrumental in installing him as a puppet dictator, except when installed he did not dance as the USA wanted. Hs atrocities were so evil & so public that the USA had to remove him, apparently "necessary to safeguard US citizens, secure the US-built canal, battle drug trafficking & defend democracy." That last bit about defending democracy is offensive. The only so called democracy defended was America's & their need for Oil.

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