FORMER PANAMA DICTATOR , MANUEL NORIEGA DIES AT 83

Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian notorious dictator known as 'CIA's man in Panama who spied for the United State before his drug trafficking ties led to his ouster in 1989 in what was then the largest
American military action since the Vietnam War, has died, at the age of 83.

President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama announced Mr. Noriega’s death on Twitter early Tuesday morning.

Mr. Varela’s post read, “The death of Manuel A. Noriega closes a chapter in our history; his daughters and his relatives deserve to bury him in peace.”

According to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Mr. Noriega who had been put into an induced coma in March after undergoing brain surgery died around 11 p.m. Monday at Santo Tomás Hospital in Panama City.

Noriega ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, spying for the CIA before the US invaded in his repressive regime in 1989, ending a drug-trafficking career that associated him with the Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar.