Former Panamanian dictator Noriega hospitalized

Πηγή: AP
By JUAN ZAMORANO

Feb 5 2012

PANAMA CITY (AP) -- Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was toppled by a 1989 American invasion and later convicted of drug running, was transferred from prison to a hospital on Sunday because of extreme hypertension, health officials said.

Health Minister Franklin Vergara said Noriega's blood pressure was very high, nearly leading to a stroke. The former military strongman arrived to a hospital, and doctors saw signs of a possible brain hemorrhage.

Further X-rays and evaluations yielded normal results, Vergara said.

"He is conscious, knows where he is and we are not finding any injury with long-term effects at this moment," said Vergara.

Noriega will remain in intensive care for 24 hours, he said.

Panama's National Police said earlier Sunday in a statement that the 77-year-old Noriega had possibly suffered a stroke. Police took him from El Renacer prison where he was serving out his sentence to Hospital Santo Tomas in Panama City.

One of his three daughters, Sandra, was seen entering the hospital, which was guarded by police agents.

In December, Panamanian authorities said Noriega was suffering from mobility due to a stroke several years ago. He had paralysis on his face's left side and leg.

Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, spent about 20 years in U.S. and French prisons on drug-trafficking and money-laundering convictions, before returning to Panama on Dec. 11, 2011. Shortly after returning home under heavy security, he was seen publicly in a wheelchair being helped by prison authorities.

Noriega was Panama's longtime intelligence chief before becoming its top leader.

While he had been considered a valued CIA asset for years, the U.S. government soured on him, especially after a top political opponent was killed in 1985 and Noriega appeared to join forces with Latin American drug traffickers.

U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered an invasion in December 1989 to oust him from power. He was captured and brought to Miami.

Prosecutors said Noriega helped the Medellin cocaine cartel ship "tons and tons of a deadly white powder" into the United States. But the defense said the indictment "smells all the way from here to Washington."

Jurors convicted him in April 1992 of eight of 10 charges. Under the judge's instructions, they were told not to consider the political side of the case, including whether the U.S. had the right to invade Panama and bring Noriega to trial in the first place.

When his 17-year sentence ended in 2007, France extradited him on money-laundering charges.

Noriega also had legal troubles awaiting him in Panama, where he had been convicted in absentia of murder, embezzlement and corruption charges that carried a combined 60-year prison sentence.

The Noriega file

Πηγή: LAtimes
By Douglas Cox

Oct 5 2011

A recent decision by a French court — paving the way for the return of former dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega to Panama after more than 20 years in prisons in the United States and France — has made a long-standing question suddenly urgent: What happened to the thousands of boxes of documents U.S. forces seized during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989? The surprising answer, the U.S. government recently confirmed, is that the U.S. Army still has them. The United States should immediately return these documents to Panama, where they are needed not only by historians and human rights researchers but also by attorneys on both sides of legal proceedings that will follow Noriega's return.

During the U.S. invasion of Panama to remove Noriega from office, American forces seized 15,000 boxes of documents from Noriega's offices and the Panamanian Defense Forces. The documents included everything from letters and bank account statements to sensitive secret police files and intelligence reports, and even a number of "stolen" U.S. documents.

Early on, the possibility that the seized documents might provide evidence for Noriega's drug-trafficking trial in Miami, or might corroborate politically embarrassing connections between Noriega and the CIA, made headlines. After Noriega's trial in 1992, however, during which the prosecution made scant use of the documents and the judge largely rejected evidence regarding Noriega's CIA connections as irrelevant, the subsequent fate of the documents remained a well-kept, and largely forgotten, secret. U.S. Southern Command recently confirmed to me, however, that after all these years, the seized documents from the Noriega regime are still in the custody of U.S. Army South, headquartered at Ft. Sam Houston in Texas.

The fate of the seized documents is only a part of the problem. The renewed importance of the documents brings up a complex legal question over their ownership. Under the laws of armed conflict, captured enemy property — including enemy government documents — can literally convert into the property of the capturing state as "war booty." For example, the U.S. treated a large number of German documents captured by American forces in World War II as U.S. property: The documents were only later returned toGermany as a "donation." More recently, the U.S. government similarly treated original Iraqi documents captured during the 1991 Persian Gulf War as U.S. property, which had to be destroyed in 2002 because the papers had become contaminated with mold.

According to the National Archives, however, the U.S. Department of Defense agreed to treat the original documents seized in Operation Just Cause as property of Panama. Such an agreement was consistent with the U.S. government's initial assertion that the invasion of Panama was not an "armed conflict" under international law. The United States had claimed that because a new "president of Panama" was "sworn in" on a U.S. military base an hour before the invasion, the military operations were for the benefit of the "legitimate" government of Panama.

This legal fig leaf, which had allowed the United States to reject the responsibilities of an occupying power in Panama and deny Noriega prisoner-of-war status, was later rejected by a U.S. court, which further complicates the legal status of the seized documents. As if this were not complex enough, Noriega also may have a compelling argument that a number of the documents were, and remain, his personal property, and, as a prisoner of war, his property is protected under the laws of war.

When Noriega returns to Panama, both the United States and Panama will revisit an important part of our shared history. Regardless of who technically holds title to the documents, the original documents belong in Panama as part of that country's historical record, and copies of those documents belong in the U.S. National Archives as part of our own. This is the model that was followed for captured documents from Vietnam and Grenada, and those examples should be followed now.

To be sure, as with any body of archival records, the documents undoubtedly contain information that may require legitimate protection from disclosure on national security or personal privacy grounds. But access to these documents should be as broad as such considerations will allow. For purposes of studying history, researching human rights issues, enforcing government accountability and ensuring that impending legal proceedings in Panama that involve Noriega are as informed, robust and as fair as possible, the seized documents should be returned home.

French Court Grants Bail to Manuel Antonio Noriega in Paris

Πηγή: Panama Guide
By Don Winner

Sep. 24 2011

The Chancellery of the Republic and lawyers for the former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega have chosen to remain silent in response to a French court decision yesterday to grant Noriega bail, who is currently in prison in Paris for money laundering. This Friday, the judge Henri Moyen informed Noriega he had been granted bail as of 1 October 2011, and that he would be extradited to Panama, according to international news agencies. However, he explained Noriega will remain in the La Santé prison in Paris until 16 November 2011, until the second of three requests for extradition from Panama have been resolved by the French judicial authorities. The former general is service a seven year sentence in France for money laundering. Noriega's lawyers in Panama said they will not comment until his client's legal situation is clarified. The Foreign Ministry also had no statement. Noriega faces convictions in Panama for the deaths of Hugo Spadafora, Moisés Giroldi, and Heliodoro Portugal. (Prensa)

Editor's Comment: So, he's been granted bail, but only so he can be extradited to Panama. He will remain in custody until France gets done doing the paperwork and coordination on the other two extradition requests, which they can't simply ignore.

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Crisis may speed up big trade deals

Πηγή: Bilaterals
By Shin Hyon-hee
10 August 2011

Although a dreary outlook for the U.S. economy coupled with a rating cut has triggered mayhem throughout the world’s stock markets this week, it may serve as a catalyst for free trade agreements, experts said Wednesday.

A spate of grim economic figures stoked fears of a “double-dip” recession. The world’s largest economy grew at an annual rate of less than 1 percent in the first half of the year, its jobless rate is stuck at 9.1 percent and consumer spending fell in June for the first time in nearly two years.

The U.S. Federal Reserve now sees its economy remaining feeble for another two years but its $600-billion bond-buying bucket is already exhausted. The Fed would need further measures other than promising rock-bottom interest rates to bring the economy back ― such as trade deals ― experts say.

“For the U.S., the weak dollar means stronger export competitiveness,” said Kwak Soo-jong, a senior researcher at Samsung Economic Research Institute. “The current situation can stimulate competition in the manufacturing sector given lower prices of American products.”

Pending U.S. agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama would benefit the U.S. economically and strategically, said the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

“Carefully developed accords will boost U.S. exports significantly, especially in the key automotive, agricultural and commercial services sectors,” the organization said in a paper, adding to other benefits such as the enhancement of diplomatic ties and new investment opportunities.

Korea and the U.S. signed a deal in 2007 but legislatures of both countries have yet to approve it. President Barack Obama had sought its ratification before a summer recess begins on Aug. 6, but lawmakers got caught up in a partisan brawl over raising the federal debt ceiling.

If ratified, the pact would be the largest for the U.S. since the North American FTA with Canada and Mexico, which went into effect in 1994. Korea has seven free trade partners in effect with the European Union being the largest.

“For the U.S., the only means it could lean on right now is exports,” said Ko Hee-chae, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

“The slump has squeezed consumer spending and the government budget. The deal can be a good tool to invigorate sentiment despite a decline in Korea’s share in U.S. exports compared with the past.”

Upon implementation, tariffs on 95 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial exports will be eliminated within five years, data show.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the tariff removal alone would boost U.S. exports by more than $10 billion and help the Korean economy expand by 6 percent.

“Whether you’re an American manufacturer of machinery or a Korean chemicals exporter this deal lowers the barriers to reaching your customers,” she said last month in Hong Kong.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s estimates, failing to enact the deal with Korea will cause the U.S. to lose $35 billion in exports and 345,000 jobs.

U.S. Congress is now moving to pass the long-stalled deals next month as it made progress on the debate over a controversial worker aid program, which provides aid to workers who lose their jobs or suffer hours and pay cut as a result of increased imports and foreign competition.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance has been one of the lingering hurdles. The Obama administration is behind the trade deals but demands the extension of the 40-year-old program alongside it. Republicans have called for a separate legislative process.

“We believe we have a framework for an agreement that will allow us to approve and have a vote on TAA very quickly when Congress convenes in September and to move forward with passage of the FTAs at the same time,” Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative, told the Bretton Woods Committee last month in Washington.

U.S. can't justify its drug war spending, reports say

 Πηγή: Los Angeles Times

By Brian Bennett, June 09, 2011

Government reports say the Obama administration is unable to show that billions of dollars spent in the anti-drug efforts in Latin America have made a significant difference.

Reporting from Washington— As drug cartels wreak murderous havoc from Mexico to Panama, the Obama administration is unable to show that the billions of dollars spent in the war on drugs have significantly stemmed the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government's growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate fields of coca, operate surveillance equipment and otherwise battle the widening drug trade in Latin America over the last five years.