Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno was a Panamanian politician, military officer who was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never actually served as president of Panama, instead ruling as an unelected military dictator through puppet presidents. Amassing a personal fortune through drug trafficking operations by the Panamanian military, Noriega had longstanding ties with American intelligence agencies before the U.S. invasion of Panama removed him from power.
Noriega's mug shot after his surrender to U.S. forces in 1990
Noriega in an Instituto Nacional yearbook
The School of the Americas (photographed in 2006), where Noriega took several courses.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter shaking hands with Torrijos after signing the Panama Canal Treaty.
The Panamanian Public Forces are the national security forces of Panama. Panama is the second country in Latin America to abolish its standing army, with Panama retaining a small paramilitary security force. This came as a result of a U.S. invasion that overthrew a military dictatorship which ruled Panama from 1968 to 1989. The final military dictator, Manuel Noriega, had been belligerent toward the U.S. culminating in the killing of a U.S. Marine lieutenant and U.S. invasion ordered by U.S. President George H. W. Bush.
A BMW X6, one of several deluxe vehicles impounded in high-profile cases that were converted to patrol vehicles of the National Police force.
American and Panamanian security forces practice water steering and maneuvering
