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February 11, 1934 - Manuel Noriega

Noriega's career traced a long arc from CIA asset to international fugitive, making him one of the Cold War era's more instructive case studies in the consequences of proxy relationships. He held power in Panama not through any formal office but through control of the military and a willingness to use intelligence services as instruments of personal rule. His eventual indictment on drug trafficking charges and removal by U.S. military invasion in 1989 marked a rare instance of a former intelligence collaborator becoming the explicit target of the country that had cultivated him.

From Wikipedia

Manuel Noriega

Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno ( mahn-WEL NOR-ee-AY-gə; Spanish: [maˈnwel noˈɾjeɣa]; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian military officer and politician who was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially 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 United States invasion of Panama removed him from power.

Born in Panama City to a poor pardo family, Noriega studied at the Chorrillos Military School in Lima and at the School of the Americas. He became an officer in the Panamanian army, and rose through the ranks in alliance with Omar Torrijos. In 1968, Torrijos overthrew President Arnulfo Arias in a coup. Noriega became chief of military intelligence in Torrijos's government and, after Torrijos's death in 1981, consolidated power to become Panama's de facto ruler in 1983. Beginning in the 1950s, Noriega worked with U.S. intelligence agencies, and became one of the Central Intelligence Agency's most valued intelligence sources.

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