Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has been handed another prison sentence, this time from the French courts. He is accused of laundering drug money in the country and has been given a seven year sentence.
Noriega fought a long and unsuccessful battle against extradition to France which lasted 32 months. During this period he remained behind bars, even though he had ended serving his 20 year sentence in Florida in 2007 for Drug Trafficking. The extended period he spent in jail will probably go in Noriega’s favor and it is expected that he could be paroled in about a year’s time. That is both good news and bad news for the deposed leader. Good in terms of not having to spend more time in jail in a foreign country and bad because Panama wants him back to face more criminal charges.
It has been a long and painful fall from grace for the former dictator. At one time, Manuel Antonio Noriega was a strong ally of the CIA. But his allegiance to drug traffickers and his implication in the murder of a politician were enough cause for a U.S. invasion in 1989 which promptly took him out. Since then he has been held in Florida and now in France.
The Panamanians want the 76 year old dictator to stand trial in his own country and face charges of murder. Although, Noriega will not fight the extradition, the process of extraditing him is expected to be long and complicated