WHAT’S THE STORY?

FORMER Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, a one-time US ally and later ousted by an American invasion in 1989, has died aged 83.

Panama President Juan Carlos Varela tweeted that his the death “closes a chapter in our history”.

Noriega served a 17-year sentence in the US and the final years of his life were spent in a Panamanian prison for murder of political opponents during his 1983-89 regime. Recently, he suffered various ailments including the rapid growth of a benign brain tumour first spotted in 2012.

He is survived by his wife and three daughters.

HOW DID HE COME TO POWER?

KNOWN mockingly as “Pineapple Face” for his pockmarked complexion, Noriega was born poor in Panama City on February 11, 1934 and raised by foster parents.

He joined Panama’s Defence Forces in 1962 and rose through the ranks through loyalty to his mentor, General Omar Torrijos, who became Panama’s de facto leader after a 1968 coup. Two years after Torrijos died in a mysterious plane crash in 1981, Noriega became the head of the armed forces and Panama’s de facto ruler.

Noriega ruled with an iron fist and wielded great influence outside the country thanks to longstanding relationships with spy agencies around the world. Huge changes were made under his rule: taking over the Panama Canal from US control in 1999, expanding the waterway and fostering a tourism and real estate boom.

Today the Central American nation has little in common with the bombed-out neighbourhoods where Noriega hid during the 1989 invasion.

WHAT WERE HIS TIES TO THE US?

NORIEGA was considered a valued CIA asset and was paid millions of dollars for assistance, including acting as a liaison to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, helping the US to seize drugs at sea, tracking money laundering, and reporting on guerilla and terrorist activities.

Washington ultimately turned sour on him, especially after a top political opponent was killed in 1985 and Noriega appeared to join forces with drug traffickers. Several Panamanian military coups were attempted but failed, and their leaders were executed.

HOW DID HIS RULE COME TO AN END?

IN 1988 federal grand juries in Florida indicted Noriega on drug-trafficking charges. He reacted with defiance, prompting then US President George HW Bush to order the invasion of Panama in 1989, which successfully captured Noriega and brought him to Miami.

Noriega was convicted in 1992, though jurors were told not to consider things like the US’s justification for invading in the first place. He accused Washington of a “conspiracy” to keep him behind bars and tied his legal troubles to his refusal to co-operate with a US plot to topple the Nicaraguan government in the 80s.

After completing his sentence in 2007, Noriega was extradited to France and received a seven-year sentence for money laundering.

He later returned to Panama to face in-absentia convictions and two prison terms of 20 years for embezzlement, corruption and murder of opponents.