Former Panama dictator Noriega of 80s dies

AP News and other news media reported that former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega, a representative dictator in Latin America in the 1980s, died Monday (Monday) at age 83. The ex-dictator was incarcerated at El Renacer prison to service time and was granted house arrest since Jan. 29 to prepare for brain tumor surgery. He was later moved to the Hospital Santo Tomas to have the surgery.

At that time, his lawyer held a press conference in the hospital and said Noriega was in critical condition as bleeding didn’t stop after a second surgery and it was hard to predict his recovery. He was in the intensive care unit but he eventually died.

Noriega took over the reins of the military regime from the coup in 1980s and ruled the country from 1983 to 1989. After being ousted as Panama’s dictator by an American invasion in 1989, he was detained as a prisoner of war and later taken to the U.S. in 1990. He had served in prison for a long time in the U.S., France and others on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering and deported to his home country. He was later sentenced to serve 60 years for murder, embezzlement, corruption by the Panama court and had served his time in the El Renacer prison.

Su-Yeon Kim sykim@donga.com