PANAMA CITY, Panama - More than two decades after the U.S. forced him from power, Manuel Noriega returned to Panama on Sunday as a prisoner and, to many of those he once ruled with impunity, an irrelevant man.
Some Panamanians feel hatred for the former strongman and rejected American ally; a few others nostalgia. But as he returned to his native country for the first time since his ouster, it seemed like few people had any strong feelings at all.
Full text in http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/noriega-returns-to-panama-a-largely-irrelevant-man-1.3381838
Noriega was convicted in absentia in three homicide cases involving 11 murders, including the 1985 beheading of Hugo Spadafora, a physician who threatened to reveal Noriega's drug ties, and the 1989 execution-style slaying of nine officers who staged a failed coup.
Sentenced to 20 years in each case, he will serve the terms concurrently. Official photographs of the facility prepared for him at the El Renacer prison showed a spartan, beige-painted cell with a bathroom, table and small bed.
Noriega will also face charges over the 1970 murder of Heliodoro Portugal, an opponent of Panama's military leaders.
Panamanian media showed images confirming the imprisonment of the former strongman, while pointing out at the cameras.
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