Ousted Panama dictator Manuel Noriega dies at 83

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was ousted by a 1989 U.S. invasion, has died, Panama's government announced early Tuesday. He was 83. No official cause of death was immediately announced, but Noriega had been in intensive care since March due to complications from surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. While in prison in the U.S., France, and finally Panama, Noriega had suffered strokes and other ailments. General Noriega, a career soldier, was sometimes an ally and sometimes an enemy of the U.S., working with the CIA and U.S. drug agencies while at the same time trafficking cocaine and selling secrets to U.S. adversaries. He was indicted by the United States in early 1989 on racketeering, laundering drug money, and drug smuggling charges, and in 1990, he surrendered. He was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1992, and was convicted in absentia of murder and laundering $2.8 million in drug money by purchasing property in France. Noriega was extradited back to Panama in 2011.

Source: BBC News, The New York Times