Signs of hate as Noriega flies home

More than two decades after the US forced him from power, Manuel Noriega has returned to Panama as a prisoner.

There were no legions of admirers at Panama City’s Tocumen airport when the Iberia airlines flight touched down late on Sunday, delivering him from Paris’s La Sante prison after a stopover in Madrid.

Noriega, who has served drug sentences in the United States and a money-laundering term in France, was whisked by helicopter to the El Renacer prison to serve three 20-year sentences for the murder of political opponents in the 1980s.

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An elevated platform was set up at the prison so journalists could watch him enter.

About a dozen protesters, identifying themselves as relatives of army officers shot by Noriega’s forces, gathered at the prison’s main entrance.

One held a sign saying “Justice, Noriega, Killer.” Another woman shouted: “Die, you wretch! Now you’re going to pay for your crimes.”

President Ricardo Martinelli said Noriega “should pay for the damage and horror committed against the people of Panama”.

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The 77-year-old former general was convicted on US drug trafficking charges in 1991 and served 17 years.

He received special treatment as a prisoner of war and lived in his own bungalow with a TV and exercise equipment.

When his sentence ended, he was extradited to France, which convicted him of laundering millions of dollars in drug profits through three major French banks and investing drug cash in three luxury Paris apartments.

In Panama, Noriega was sentenced in absentia for the murders.

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