Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega apologizes for human rights violations.
| Autor | Reynolds, Louisa |
Panama's former dictator Manuel Noriega (1983-1989) apologized on national television for human rights violations committed under his regime. In his first interview since 1996, Noriega told Panamanian TV station Telemetro on June 24, "I am asking forgiveness from all the people who were offended, affected, hurt, or humiliated by my actions or those of my superiors in compliance with orders or those of my subordinates." He added that he wanted to "close the cycle of the military era."
Noriega, a Panamanian Army officer who became one of the CIA's most valued intelligence sources as well as a conduit for illicit weapons destined for US backed counterinsurgency forces (NotiCen, April 14, 1989), was removed from power in 1989 during a US military invasion (NotiCen, Dec. 20, 1989).
He was subsequently taken to the US and convicted of drug trafficking and racketeering charges in 1992. Noriega served a prison sentence in the US until 2010 when he was extradited to France to serve time for money-laundering charges. A year later, he was extradited to Panama (NotiCen, Dec. 8, 2011, and Jan. 26, 2012).
Noriega, 81, is currently serving three 20-year prison sentences for the disappearance of two opponents in the 1980s, Hugo Spadafora and Moises Giroldi (NotiCen, Oct. 20, 1989), and the Allbrook massacre, a crackdown on soldiers who staged a failed uprising against him.
The day after Noriega appeared on Telemetro, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela urged the nation to accept his apology. "He asked forgiveness, and I believe as a Christian that all of us must forgive. The Panamanian people have already overcome that period of dictatorship," he said.
In December 2014, on the 25th anniversary of the US invasion, Varela announced a "national reconciliation" process to heal the wounds left by the military intervention that deposed Noriega and left at least 500 people dead.
Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa made a similar statement and said that forgiving Noriega would help the nation "turn the page."
Victims' families find apology unconvincing
Victims' families, however, found Noriega's apology unconvincing and regard it as a ploy for the former dictator to be placed under house arrest on the grounds that he is elderly and suffers from ill health.
The aging former dictator has suffered several brain hemorrhages and has also been diagnosed with prostate cancer and depression, and his defense attorneys have unsuccessfully tried to argue that he should be...
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