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Hi listeners, did you know that the team behind

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Real Dictators has other podcasts

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Helena Bonham Carter and for BBC

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Radio 4, this is History's

0:31

Secret Heroes. She received

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a brown envelope and says do not

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open it until you get on the plane.

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A series of rarely heard tales from

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World War II. They knew they were going to be

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caught and actually that was sort

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of part of the plan. Unsung

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heroes, acts of resistance, deception

0:50

and courage. That is a morning

0:52

that is seared into my memory.

0:55

I will never be able to forget the

0:58

terror of that morning.

0:59

Subscribe to History's Secret Heroes

1:02

wherever you get your podcasts. We're

1:05

in Panama in December 1989,

1:07

the week

1:10

before Christmas. The

1:12

United States has launched its biggest military

1:15

operation since the Vietnam War. Their

1:18

objective? To capture

1:20

the country's military dictator, General

1:23

Manuel Noriega. Helicopter

1:26

gunships blast key Panamanian positions.

1:31

Tracer fire lights up the skies.

1:36

On a beach near Punta Paitia Airport

1:38

in Panama City, a crack

1:40

team of Navy SEALs and CIA

1:43

black ops clamber out of their rigid inflatables.

1:46

No sooner are they on land than they're caught

1:49

in a vicious firefight. They

1:52

push past Noriega's men, fighting

1:54

their way through the streets until they reach the airport.

1:59

With a shot from a rocket launcher,

1:59

propelled grenade. The

2:03

dictator's private jet is destroyed.

2:06

Now it's time to grab the man himself. They

2:09

find him nearby, holed

2:11

up in a seedy hotel room. Two

2:14

guards are taken out with shots to the head,

2:17

a third fatally stabbed in the side of the neck.

2:21

Noriega raises his hands in surrender.

2:27

Except that's not how

2:30

it really happened. That

2:33

is the version of Noriega's capture played out

2:35

in a 2012 video game, Call

2:38

of Duty Black Ops 2.

2:42

At the time of its release, the real Noriega

2:44

meanwhile, has spent the last two

2:46

decades in prison. At

2:49

almost 80 years old, he knows

2:51

he'll never see the outside world again.

2:54

But while his life as a free man may be over,

2:57

Noriega is preoccupied with something else.

3:01

His legacy.

3:05

For years, as he sees it, he's

3:08

been vilified by the Americans. Now

3:11

he's literally been cast as a villain. So

3:15

far Noriega has lost every legal battle he's

3:17

been involved in. He's been

3:19

convicted in three separate countries on

3:21

charges ranging from money laundering to murder.

3:25

But once again, he's determined

3:27

to have his day in court. This

3:30

time Noriega is suing

3:32

Activision, the video games publishers,

3:35

for putting him in it without his permission. And

3:39

in the process for distorting the true story

3:41

of the US invasion of Panama.

3:44

It's ironic that a man who spent

3:46

his life trading in secrets, lies and double

3:48

bluffs, should

3:50

be so concerned with historical

3:52

truth. But as far as Noriega

3:54

is concerned, his

3:57

portrayal in the game as a kidnapper, murder,

3:59

is not a lie.

3:59

and enemy of the state

4:02

has damaged his reputation. At

4:06

the very least he should be entitled

4:08

to a share of the game's profits. The

4:11

judge disagrees and the case

4:14

is thrown out of court. A

4:16

man guilty of as many crimes as Noriega

4:18

has no reputation to protect.

4:22

It's in the nature of entertainment to exaggerate,

4:25

to fictionalize for dramatic

4:27

effect. But in fact

4:29

the true story of

4:32

Noriega's capture is stranger

4:34

than fiction. Two

4:36

of there are the dirigibles, the private

4:38

jet and the helicopter gunships just like

4:41

in the game. But in the end

4:43

Noriega's downfall will come down to a pair

4:45

of Catholic priests, a

4:48

spy in a nail salon and

4:51

a playlist of heavy metal

4:53

music.

4:55

From Noiser this is the final part

4:57

of the Manuel Noriega story

5:00

and this is Real Dictators.

5:12

By late 1989 Noriega has gone

5:14

from a US asset to a liability.

5:19

Once the CIA's top intelligence source

5:21

in Central America, he's

5:23

now a thorn in the side of new president

5:25

George H.W. Bush. A

5:29

former CIA director Bush has been doing

5:31

everything he can to distance himself from

5:33

Noriega. In the

5:35

context of the US war on drugs, his

5:38

ties to a major narco trafficker

5:40

are hard to explain. Professor

5:43

Robert Harding. I

5:45

don't think there was a matter of them having

5:48

a relationship, having a

5:50

friendship, but it was more

5:53

of we can help each other. It was a

5:55

one hand washes the other relationship.

5:58

And the fact that... Later,

6:01

Bush himself would order the

6:03

invasion that would bring down Noriega

6:05

was no different than

6:08

one might say a boss who ends

6:10

up firing an employee. It's

6:13

just business. It's nothing personal.

6:17

Right now, Bush is desperate for

6:19

Noriega to disappear. But

6:22

so far, every effort to

6:24

get rid of him has ended in failure.

6:28

Mr. Margaret Scranton. Diplomacy

6:31

did not work to negotiate him out.

6:34

Military coups did not work to remove him.

6:37

The political class, which had failed

6:39

so often before, missed

6:42

an opportunity. The

6:44

United States is inching ever closer

6:46

to military action. But first,

6:50

the groundwork must be laid. President's

6:54

operative, Martha Duncan, was born

6:56

in the American-controlled Canal Zone.

6:59

Now after working in the United States as a Panama

7:02

analyst, she finds herself

7:04

returning home. I

7:07

was selected to be a part of the Joint

7:09

Intelligence Fusion Cell, which was

7:11

find, fix and predict Noriega.

7:15

So the team was formed up from

7:18

different elements, different agencies,

7:20

organizations, military and

7:22

whatnot. We went down to Panama in November

7:24

of 1989. We

7:27

set up at Corey Heights in

7:29

what's called the tunnel. Corey Heights was

7:31

the headquarters for the U.S. Southern

7:33

Command at the time.

7:35

So that became the operational

7:38

center,

7:38

if you will. I did a lot

7:41

of casing and going downtown

7:43

and mingling with the people. I can

7:45

speak the language. I can navigate

7:47

different areas and try to get the information.

7:51

I made it a routine to jog

7:54

up and down the causeway, which I used to

7:56

do when I lived there

7:58

because Noriega had spent

7:59

units that were assigned to

8:02

the causeway.

8:03

And during those jogging

8:06

times, I would stop and

8:09

chat up the guards at the gate and

8:11

had my little run and shorts and the

8:14

guard at the gate was too pleased to

8:16

the top with the chica. And just

8:19

see how things were going. And

8:21

there was one home in particular that was

8:23

known as the Witch's House. And

8:26

Noriega was very much in Tuvudu,

8:28

into Santa Ria. So he would

8:30

frequent the place quite a bit. And

8:33

so that was one of the spots that I would look

8:36

to see if I see any activity,

8:38

any vehicles, and if Noriega

8:40

was there or not. By

8:43

this point, the Americans have been

8:45

planning a possible military intervention

8:47

in Panama for over a year.

8:50

Known initially by the codename Blue Spoon,

8:53

the invasion plans now take on a more bullish

8:56

moniker, Operation

8:58

Just Cause. US

9:01

General Colin Powell, chairman

9:03

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explains

9:06

the name change in his memoirs. Even

9:09

our severest critics would have to utter

9:12

Just Cause while denouncing

9:14

us. No president

9:16

could have ordered something like this if the military

9:19

had been opposed, especially

9:21

an institutionalist like

9:23

Bush 41. It's like

9:26

a Rubik's Cube and things are

9:28

aligning more and more in favor

9:30

of a military operation to

9:32

capture Noriega.

9:36

Noriega, meanwhile, seems blissfully

9:39

unaware of the danger. But

9:42

throughout the final months of his regime, he

9:44

repeatedly provokes the Americans, almost

9:47

as if he's daring them to come after him. Noriega

9:52

thought he was so indispensable he

9:54

could say and do whatever

9:56

he wanted and was going to be

9:59

invulnerable. This invulnerability

10:02

starts to get broken down near the beginning

10:04

of 1989, when his

10:07

military, the PDF,

10:09

start to do things that don't

10:12

allow Bush to ignore him anymore.

10:15

The PDF decides that they're

10:18

going to inexplicably seize 20

10:21

school buses full of children from

10:24

U.S. military and civilian personnel.

10:27

And at this point, President Bush

10:29

declares with some irritation

10:32

that amateur hour is over.

10:34

That starts a very rapid buildup

10:37

over 1989 of military

10:39

personnel into the Panama Canal.

10:42

Whether or not they were trying to intimidate him

10:44

into leaving, we'll probably

10:46

never know, but certainly they were getting ready

10:48

in case they had to move.

10:54

As South Com, short for

10:56

U.S. Southern Command,

10:58

oversees the American military buildup,

11:01

Noriega gets jittery.

11:03

He heads to the National Assembly, where he gives

11:05

a speech, the wording of

11:07

which will prove critical. Professor

11:10

Michael Conniff. Noriega

11:14

went to the National Assembly and gave

11:16

a speech in which he said, the United

11:18

States has put us in a state

11:21

of war,

11:22

meaning that the sanctions and the threats

11:24

and so

11:25

forth, end up in the defense forces

11:28

in the canal zone. And the U.S.

11:30

press immediately turned that around and said he

11:32

declared war in the United States, which he hadn't.

11:35

But he misspoke in a way

11:37

that helped justify Bush's invasion.

11:42

And the very next day, a U.S. Marine

11:44

named Robert Pass was shot and killed

11:46

in a private vehicle at a checkpoint near

11:49

the PDF headquarters.

11:52

There was four officers that were

11:55

coming back into the canal zone

11:57

after having dinner in Panama and we're

11:59

at a check. point and the guard

12:01

wanted them to stop and wanted them to get out

12:04

of the vehicle and they

12:06

did not. They proceeded to continue

12:09

and the guard fired and killed

12:11

Lieutenant Paz.

12:14

So it wasn't like, all right, we're

12:16

going to get a U.S. personnel, we're

12:18

going to line them up and we're going to shoot them. Wasn't

12:20

like that, but it showed just

12:23

how the situation could spiral out

12:25

of control. The shooting

12:27

was perhaps accidental, perhaps it was

12:29

in the fit of anger, but

12:32

regardless of the motivation, it

12:35

set off a fuse

12:37

that would blow up five

12:39

days later on December 20th.

12:44

On the ground in Panama City, intelligent

12:46

operative Martha Duncan quizzes citizens

12:49

on the latest developments.

12:52

While the people are fearful of what might be coming,

12:55

there's precious little love for Noriega.

12:58

I had to be careful and who I approached

13:01

or what I may ask, it had

13:03

to be done in a way that

13:05

I was just part of, you know,

13:07

a concerned citizen. There's

13:10

the ongoing training operations

13:12

that the U.S. was conducting, a lot

13:15

of helicopters every day. There

13:18

was a lot of discontent. So that's

13:20

pretty much what the chatter was about. I

13:23

think most of the people in the country just wanted

13:25

him out. They just weren't sure

13:27

how it was going to be done. Noriega

13:31

biographer Angel Riccardo Martinez

13:34

Benoit. Everybody

13:36

was really ready to move on. That

13:38

is something that is true. You

13:40

know, no matter how you feel about Noriega, the

13:42

truth is everyone was sick of it. You

13:45

could argue if having the mightiest

13:47

military in the world come and bomb,

13:50

that was the solution. That was the right way to solve

13:52

it. Maybe another year, another

13:54

six months, whatever. Maybe Panamanians would

13:57

have been able to solve it. But it

13:59

happened the way it did. That change had to

14:01

happen. It happened in a very tragic way,

14:03

but that's how it is. History

14:06

doesn't happen the way you want. It's just the

14:08

way it is.

14:13

Operation Just Cause

14:16

marks a turning point in US foreign policy.

14:19

But would the United States really spend more

14:21

than $150m on

14:24

a military operation just to arrest

14:26

one drug trafficker? And

14:29

why now? After

14:31

all, the Panamanians had been living on the military dictatorship

14:34

for over 20 years.

14:36

Like so much in the Noriega story, there's

14:39

more to this than meets the eye. They

14:42

were looking way beyond Panama. Nothing

14:45

that happened actually, not even the invasion was about

14:47

Panama itself. It was always about

14:49

the chessboard. The Berlin

14:52

Wall had fallen a month before, the

14:55

9th of November. So there's this feeling

14:57

that the Cold War is over, that

15:00

we're just entering this unipolar moment,

15:02

and it's now America's world. And

15:05

what better way to showcase it than this

15:07

totally safe intervention in

15:09

this minuscule country in Central America

15:12

that you already control, that has zero

15:14

risk, and that it's very

15:16

good to announce, hey, it's

15:19

our world now. After

15:22

the loss of the Vietnam War,

15:25

they were not going to go in half-hearted.

15:27

They were going to go in with overwhelming

15:30

force, where any meaningful

15:33

defense would be destroyed,

15:35

literally within a day or two.

15:38

It was an opportunity for

15:40

the military to try out some

15:43

of its brand new technology.

15:46

Technology that would, of

15:48

course, only a couple of years later, be

15:50

used in the Persian Gulf War. This

15:53

provided the perfect opportunity, at least, to

15:55

see it in action.

15:57

On December the 20th,

15:59

President Biden... Bush gives an address from the Oval

16:01

Office. Fellow citizens,

16:05

last night I ordered US military

16:07

forces to Panama. No

16:10

president takes such action lightly.

16:14

Many attempts have been made to resolve this

16:16

crisis through diplomacy and

16:18

negotiations. All

16:21

were rejected by the dictator of Panama,

16:24

General Manuel Noriega, an

16:26

indicted drug trafficker.

16:32

On December 20th, the United States begins

16:34

the invasion with 24,000 troops, which at that

16:39

time was the largest US

16:41

military operation since

16:43

the Vietnam War. The United

16:46

States comes in with not just

16:48

overwhelming troop forces, but

16:50

also, for example, they

16:52

used these new stealth fighters

16:55

to bomb areas of

16:57

Panama City, particularly

17:00

going after the PDF headquarters.

17:04

I remember that night, which

17:06

everyone was really scared, you know, of course, that you

17:08

could hear the bombs and everything.

17:11

I remember that the only

17:13

TV channel that was working was Channel 8,

17:16

which was called the Southern Command Network. It

17:19

was a TV channel of the Southern Command. It

17:22

was intended for the Americans that lived

17:24

in the Canal Zone, but everyone could watch it.

17:28

It was total chaos. It was like

17:31

4th of July. There was nothing but fire up on

17:34

the skies, you know, lights just

17:37

everywhere.

17:46

While the US invasion wasn't exactly the

17:48

surprise of the century, no

17:50

one in Panama had anticipated this

17:52

level of carnage. In

17:56

the process of

17:58

going after the PDF,

18:01

The United States, unfortunately,

18:04

ended up killing a number of Panamanian

18:07

citizens because the Panamanian military

18:09

had interwoven itself into

18:11

the city.

18:13

You can't be against Noriega, but you can

18:15

also be against the invasion. You know, they

18:17

came out and destroyed Panama's

18:20

military apparatus. Because

18:23

by that time, the Americans had come

18:25

to the conclusion that there was nobody

18:28

in the military that they could trust.

18:31

So the entire experiment,

18:34

which was actually of their own making, had

18:37

to be discarded. It

18:40

was one thing to have a military

18:42

operation to capture Noriega.

18:46

It's another thing entirely

18:49

to have as your objective destroy

18:52

the PDF, destroy the military

18:54

infrastructure.

18:56

The entire Chorillo neighborhood

18:58

was being bombed. It was indiscriminate

19:01

bombing of a civilian neighborhood. Here in

19:03

Panama, it's very common to have, like, individual

19:05

gas tanks. So

19:07

the gas tanks were also exploding in apartments

19:09

because of the bombs.

19:11

This is not just war. This is a violation

19:14

of the just war doctrine of appropriateness

19:16

and violating another country's sovereignty

19:19

to capture one person. So many people

19:22

have asked, could there not have been a better

19:24

way?

19:27

With fires smoldering across Panama City,

19:30

the true cost of the invasion becomes clear. Three

19:34

thousand Panamanians is

19:37

estimated to have lost their lives,

19:39

and some twenty thousand Panamanians

19:41

lost their homes during the invasion.

19:44

And also public order

19:47

was briefly lost, looting and

19:49

vandalism became rampant, and

19:52

the aftermath was absolutely

19:54

insanity.

19:57

I used to live in an eighth floor, and right

19:59

in front of me, I was in a house. There was a branch

20:01

of Banco General, which is one of

20:03

the biggest banks in Panama. And I remember

20:06

watching it being looted from

20:08

my balcony. I was a five-year-old kid and

20:10

I was just watching how they

20:12

were trying to break into the bank.

20:16

Amid such scenes of devastation, an

20:18

obvious question arises. Was

20:21

it worth it? For

20:24

Panamanians on the ground, that's a tough

20:26

one.

20:28

The general impression I get

20:30

is that while they certainly

20:33

lamented the damage, lamented the

20:35

loss of life, perhaps

20:37

we could say it wasn't necessary evil

20:40

to get rid of Noriega.

20:43

It was a band-aid, if you will, that

20:45

had to be torn off. I

20:47

would say 99% of the country at

20:49

that time thought finally we

20:52

rid ourselves of this dictator

20:54

of somebody that has just ruined our country.

20:57

We have gotten rid of this cancer

21:00

in our country.

21:03

But in fact, there's one thing

21:05

the invasion hasn't achieved. The

21:08

capture of Manuel Noriega. As

21:13

the invasion begins,

21:15

Noriega is boozing it up in a PDF

21:18

nightclub, La Siesta. But

21:21

when Panama City starts burning around

21:23

him, he quickly sobers up.

21:26

He spends the night on the run, flitting

21:28

between a series of safe houses.

21:31

By dawn, he's holed up in an apartment

21:33

in the suburbs,

21:35

along with a couple of cronies.

21:37

Despite the best efforts of US intelligence,

21:41

Noriega has given the gringos the slip.

21:45

At Southcom headquarters in the tunnel, Martha

21:48

Duncan is doing her best to track down the elusive

21:50

dictator.

21:52

I had established a hotline for

21:54

people to call in with any

21:56

sightings of Noriega. Have you seen

21:58

him? Tell us where.

22:01

So far, all the tip-offs have

22:03

led to nothing. But Martha has

22:05

a good idea of what makes Noriega

22:07

tick. A lot of the individuals

22:10

that were running this case

22:12

thought that Noriega was in the jungles, that he had

22:15

gone into the mountains.

22:17

And I knew something about Noriega,

22:20

that he just liked perks of life. He

22:23

liked to find things in life, and

22:25

he was not likely to be somebody

22:27

who would

22:27

be hiding under rocks in

22:30

the trees or whatever. So

22:33

I went to my boss and I

22:35

said, I have an idea that

22:37

if I go after the mistress, she

22:40

may have information about

22:43

his whereabouts. And he says,

22:45

you know, give it a try.

22:50

Noriega's mistress is a young advertising

22:53

executive called Vicky Armado.

22:56

Martha has been gathering intelligence on her for

22:58

some time. A

23:00

source, the high-end beauty

23:02

salon, where Armado is a regular. The

23:05

fact that I was a woman, I was able to get

23:08

into places that a man just would not. I

23:11

had my nails done, I made an appointment, and

23:13

that was with the intent to see if I

23:15

would get any additional information

23:18

through the chatter.

23:20

And what I learned there basically

23:23

was that Vicky was not a very well-liked

23:25

person.

23:27

She was not a good tipper,

23:28

which was interesting because

23:30

she was given lots of money being with

23:32

him. And she was not an actual blonde.

23:38

Having got to know Noriega's mistress through talking

23:40

to her stylists,

23:42

Martha decides it's time for a more direct

23:45

approach.

23:47

Since the night of the invasion, Vicky has been

23:49

staying with her mother, Norma.

23:51

I got the yellow pages.

23:54

I looked for the Amado telephone

23:57

number and made a phone call.

24:00

based solely

24:02

on the sound, the tone of the conversation,

24:06

I was going to determine if they

24:08

knew or not where he was.

24:11

From now on, Martha will

24:13

be Maria, a friend

24:15

and confidant of Noriega. So

24:19

when I made the phone call, the mother answered the

24:21

phone. And in Spanish, I

24:23

introduced myself as Maria. And

24:26

I told her that I had a message from

24:28

Manuel for Vicki.

24:30

So Norma screams,

24:33

Vicki, Vicki come to the phone, information

24:36

on Manuel. Already,

24:38

Martha has learned one crucial piece of information.

24:42

They had no idea where he was. So

24:44

that takes that element off the table and

24:47

now they're concerned about their own safety.

24:50

Now Martha needs to pivot

24:52

and fast. Vicki got on the

24:54

phone, she was out of breath. She was

24:56

clearly, clearly very nervous.

24:59

And I said, Manuel is very, very concerned

25:01

about you and your safety. He

25:04

wants you to know that he is safe, but

25:07

he's more concerned about you. If

25:09

you need assistance, if you want to feel

25:11

safe, contact me, Maria, call

25:13

me back and I will get you to safety. So

25:16

I gave her a phone number and the conversation

25:19

ended.

25:25

Now it's just a question of waiting.

25:28

As the search for Noriega intensifies,

25:31

Martha can only hope that Vicki will get desperate

25:33

enough to return her call.

25:35

The US military is going house

25:38

to house. They're looking for anybody associated

25:40

with Noriega. And of course, she's a high level

25:42

target.

25:44

Finally,

25:45

the phone on Martha's desk rings. Vicki

25:48

wants to meet.

25:51

And she says, I am very fearful

25:53

of my life. The gringos are just

25:55

going from house to house. And

25:58

so I need

25:59

you to help me. Martha has

26:01

hit pay dirt.

26:02

She's earned the trust of a Noriega insider.

26:07

Even if Vicky doesn't know where her boyfriend is, she

26:09

might just hold the key to fining him.

26:12

So, I then provided her

26:14

a location, gave her time,

26:16

and said carry

26:19

a beach bag in your right arm, described

26:22

the vehicle that I would be driving,

26:25

and that I would drive up quickly

26:27

to her, rolled the window down,

26:29

and gave her my name, and she just

26:31

was to get into the vehicle. She

26:34

got in the vehicle. I took a drive

26:37

in a circuitous route, making

26:39

sure that someone is not

26:42

pursuing the vehicle. There

26:44

was silence, by the way. She was just frightened.

26:48

Martha brings Vicky to a safe house in the American-controlled

26:51

canal zone.

26:52

And then when I drove into the canal

26:55

zone is when I can sense

26:57

her turn and looks at me.

27:01

And then she asked me, where are we

27:03

going? And I said to a safe place.

27:06

And she says, are you working

27:08

for the gringos? And I

27:11

said, Vicky, I was asked to bring

27:13

you here

27:13

to make sure you were safe. So

27:16

let's proceed with that. I

27:18

took her upstairs, showed her to the bedroom,

27:21

and

27:23

she goes in, and

27:25

I just heard her crying. Let

27:27

her alone for a couple hours. Then I knocked

27:29

on the door. I had some dinner

27:32

ready, and slowly but surely, kind

27:34

of tried to

27:35

reintroduce what the next phase

27:38

would be. Meanwhile,

27:44

despite a million-dollar bounty on his head,

27:47

Noriega's whereabouts still remain unknown.

27:51

The Americans have their eyes on the Cuban and Nicaraguan

27:53

embassies.

27:55

With US troops overrunning the country, it seems

27:57

plausible he might seek asylum with a friendly

27:59

word.

27:59

regime.

28:01

As it turns out, they're not far off the mark.

28:05

Only the country Noriega has decided to approach

28:08

is a little more left field.

28:12

By the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the

28:14

fugitive is waiting in a dairy queen car

28:17

park. He's dressed in a

28:19

t-shirt and Bermuda shorts, with

28:21

a baseball cap hiding his pock-mock face.

28:24

But Toyota with tinted windows

28:27

pulls up

28:28

and Noriega gets in. At

28:30

the wheel is a Catholic priest, Father

28:33

Xavier Villanueva.

28:36

Villanueva is no fan of Noriega. In

28:38

fact, every time he leads mass, he

28:40

offers prayers for Hugo Spadafora,

28:43

the popular dissident who was brutally murdered

28:45

on Noriega's orders four years earlier.

28:48

But, as a good Catholic, Villanueva

28:51

also believes in forgiveness. And

28:54

a friend of his called Sebastian Laboa

28:57

has offered Noriega sanctuary.

29:00

Sebastian Laboa is none

29:02

other than the personal representative in Panama

29:04

of the Pope.

29:07

He ended up taking refuge in

29:09

the Vatican nuncieteur, or

29:12

the Vatican embassy, which

29:14

was kind of ironic given that

29:17

Noriega was anything but a religious

29:19

man and had not lived a very

29:22

religious life. Well, his

29:24

location was quickly found out and

29:27

the U.S. military encircled

29:29

this nuncieteur, this papal embassy.

29:34

But there's a problem.

29:36

The property is off limits to American

29:38

forces,

29:39

unless they fancy a speeching diplomatic

29:41

protocol. It's

29:44

an embassy. It's the Vatican embassy.

29:46

The last individual that

29:48

resides in that embassy is willing to come

29:50

out.

29:51

They're not going to throw you out. You

29:53

could write a book about the dilemmas that

29:56

that brought. You know, like,

29:59

how do we deal with that? this? Why don't we tell the Vatican?

30:02

And how do you handle that? And

30:04

obviously, once he shows up somewhere

30:07

safe, you can't kill him. So

30:09

you need to handle him legally.

30:12

For La Boa too, it's a delicate situation.

30:15

La Boa, he was in between

30:17

a rock and a hard place. On one hand, he had this

30:19

very vile creature who he was

30:22

morally obligated to help.

30:25

And on the other hand, he had the

30:27

strength of the US military outside.

30:30

So I think he felt it

30:32

was his absolute mission

30:35

to do the best he could to convince

30:38

his guest that it was in his best

30:40

interest to leave.

30:46

Noriega spends Christmas Day at the Nunciatue.

30:49

But it's not exactly a festive

30:51

occasion.

30:54

Outside the front gate, La Boa

30:57

engages in an awkward discussion with American

30:59

general Max Thurman. The

31:01

two men share a goal, to

31:04

get the dictator out of there as soon as possible.

31:07

But as La Boa explains, Noriega

31:10

will have to go willingly. By

31:14

now, the violence on the streets has ceased. But

31:17

the country is still in a state of chaos. For

31:20

many Panamanians, Christmas is

31:22

cancelled.

31:35

Martha Duncan spends Christmas Day at the

31:37

safe house,

31:39

with her new friend,

31:40

Vicky Armado. Noriega's

31:42

mistress has finally emerged from her room,

31:45

and is in a more talkative mood.

31:47

But Martha knows she has to take things slowly.

31:57

days

32:00

and her own family and we did

32:02

have a better meal on that

32:04

one occasion. I wanted to make

32:06

sure that she did get her rest,

32:09

wasn't just an interrogation continuously.

32:13

With Noriega refusing to budge, Martha

32:16

is beginning to think that Vicki may be even

32:18

more valuable than first assumed. Because

32:21

if anyone can persuade the general to surrender,

32:25

it'll be the woman he loves. But

32:28

first, Martha has to win back her

32:30

trust. Her

32:32

own feelings about Vicki and her boyfriend

32:34

don't come into it.

32:36

I actually had a lot of disdain. I

32:39

thought to myself, how could you even

32:41

fathom being with somebody

32:43

that has ruined our country? So

32:46

it was an act. It was absolutely

32:48

an act. But I had to ensure

32:51

that I showed empathy, that

32:53

I really cared for her as

32:55

a human being.

32:57

And at one point I asked, do you

32:59

really think that

33:01

Noriega helped this country, helped

33:03

your country? And

33:06

she couldn't answer that. She didn't answer

33:08

it because the answer was obvious.

33:10

She knew in her heart that he really

33:13

was the cause for

33:15

the country's demise.

33:20

As the two women continued talking, Martha

33:23

is formulating a plan.

33:26

Her expression about Noriega, that he was a very

33:28

proud man,

33:29

but he was very arrogant and he wanted

33:32

things a certain way. I then

33:33

started forming some

33:36

ideas about Noriega

33:38

and perhaps a way to get him out of there. Meanwhile,

33:42

at the Nunciutu, US

33:45

General Thurman is putting his own unconventional

33:48

plan into action.

33:50

With no sign of Noriega surrendering, the

33:53

military have decided to smoke him out with

33:56

rock music. Huge

33:59

speakers are positioned on the street.

34:06

The tunes are to be pumped out

34:08

24-7, and

34:10

the track choices were not exactly

34:12

subtle. Alice

34:14

Cooper's No More Mr. Nice Guy, Bon

34:17

Jovi's Wanted, Dead or Alive,

34:20

even the boppy classic Give It Up.

34:24

But as much as the message is targeted at Noriega,

34:27

the wall of sound around the Nuncitor is

34:29

intended to rattle the dictator's hosts

34:31

as well.

34:50

After two days and nights of constant noise

34:52

from their neighbors,

34:54

the Vatican hits back. A

34:57

spokesman declares the United States to be

34:59

an occupying power in Panama,

35:02

and insists that the priests will not be intimidated.

35:06

Reluctantly,

35:08

the Americans bring the party to an end.

35:11

Noriega still hasn't been dislodged.

35:18

The time has come for Martha Duncan to put her own

35:20

plan into action.

35:22

A phone line has been established between the safe

35:24

house and the Nuncitor.

35:26

Vicki is going to speak to her boyfriend.

35:50

Up until now, Martha has been in good

35:52

cop mode.

35:54

Now it's time to tighten the screws a little.

35:56

providing

36:01

us assistance was

36:03

very, very, very important. And

36:05

if the assistance was not there,

36:08

that it would impact her detrimentally

36:11

in the future. So it really was

36:13

in her best interest to cooperate

36:16

fully. It's

36:18

a high-stakes phone call for everyone involved.

36:22

At the safe house, Martha talks

36:24

Vicki through what she will say. It

36:26

was important not to have him feel

36:29

that she was being a puppet, that she was being

36:31

run by somebody.

36:33

I did not want any break in the conversation

36:36

for him to even feel that there was somebody

36:38

else prodding her. So spent a lot

36:40

of time rehearsing these

36:43

lines, but it was gonna have to be

36:45

from her heart. It was gonna have

36:47

to be something that could come across

36:49

as being real. The

36:52

call is placed. In

36:55

his room,

36:56

Noriega answers the phone.

36:59

Nervously, Vicki begins to make her case.

37:03

You know, I do love you. I

37:05

think that there is still the possibility

37:08

that there is a future if you do

37:10

come out of there and not go to

37:12

some other country where I may not

37:14

see you. And this has to have a better

37:17

ending than where you're at right now. It's

37:20

clear to Martha that the young woman is

37:22

doing her best. Vicki

37:24

has been successfully turned.

37:27

The question now

37:28

is whether Vicki can turn Noriega.

37:36

There's one final part of the plan

37:39

and it hinges on Noriega's sense of pride.

37:43

The military side of him was

37:45

his life and the uniform

37:48

was something that he distinguished

37:50

himself by. And the

37:52

discussion then became, well,

37:55

he were provided

37:57

his full regale.

38:00

that he comes out of the nuncio

38:03

with that pride that he is still

38:05

the man in charge. Coming

38:08

out with your full pride in

38:10

your uniform really

38:12

establishes you as the person

38:14

that you are. And I just

38:17

want so bad for this to end.

38:21

So he said, Mom, my

38:23

mother, we'll see.

38:26

Permitting Noriega to exit the nuncio

38:28

in his full ceremonial get-up would

38:31

allow him to retain his status as Panama's

38:34

military leader. But

38:36

will that be enough for the dictator to take the

38:38

bait?

38:40

The army's top PSYOP

38:42

specialists have already failed to manipulate

38:44

him with rock music. Now,

38:47

everything may hinge on Martha's psychological

38:49

profiling of the man. He

38:52

didn't say, I'm going to do it. But

38:54

in the meantime, the military guys

38:57

were sent out to get his uniform

38:59

pressed and get all that stuff done

39:01

and ready.

39:05

For now, the lines of communication between

39:08

Safe House and embassy are closed.

39:11

Like the rest of the country, Martha

39:13

watches what happens next

39:15

as it unfolds live on TV.

39:19

Our last conversation with him

39:21

was around five o'clock on the 3rd

39:23

of January. And he came

39:26

out the following night, I think about a quarter

39:28

to nine, in his full uniform and

39:31

walked into the arms of the DBA.

39:34

Outside the embassy, Noriega

39:36

is placed in handcuffs and formally

39:39

arrested. He will shortly

39:41

be put on a flight to Miami,

39:43

where he will await trial for at least some of his

39:45

crimes.

39:48

For Martha,

39:49

born and raised in Panama, it's

39:51

an emotional moment.

39:54

Unbelievable. It really,

39:56

I mean, it's solidified,

39:58

you know, it kind of closed the line. But

40:01

for Noriega, the battle

40:04

had just begun. This

40:09

trial would be a landmark

40:11

trial because this would be the first

40:14

time that a former head

40:16

of state of a foreign government had

40:19

ever faced criminal charges in an

40:21

American court of law.

40:24

With the prosecutors,

40:25

securing a conviction is critical.

40:28

The death toll from Operation Just Cause

40:30

already runs into the thousands.

40:33

Sending Noriega to jail will go some

40:36

way to vindicating the invasion.

40:39

With the political stakes so high,

40:41

it's not surprising that many see the outcome

40:43

as a foregone conclusion.

40:45

During the whole thing there was this kind

40:48

of atmosphere that he was going to get

40:50

convicted no matter what. I mean,

40:53

this was not an actual trial. This

40:55

was a show.

40:56

One thing that is a bit of a puzzle

40:59

is why did not Noriega have

41:01

a better lawyer? There's some

41:03

speculation that his own lawyer was

41:06

actually a U.S. government asset. So

41:09

there are a lot of puzzles. As

41:11

with all of these kinds of cases,

41:15

evidence is a problem.

41:17

And it's not that you don't have evidence

41:19

of drug trafficking. It's making

41:21

the connection to Noriega

41:24

personally

41:24

permitted this. Secret

41:27

information or classified information was

41:29

not allowed to be used in his trial to defend

41:32

himself because obviously a trial is public.

41:34

I mean, I'm not saying it was a fraud or anything, but

41:37

most of it is based on testimonies

41:40

of convicted drug traffickers,

41:42

like actual drug traffickers and

41:45

all the material that he would have wanted

41:48

to use to defend himself, which

41:50

is obviously the details of his relationship

41:52

with the CIA couldn't be used. And

41:54

it's still classified.

41:56

Imagine 30 years later.

42:00

With such stringent restrictions placed

42:02

on Noriega's defense team, an

42:04

obvious question presents itself.

42:07

Is this really a fair trial?

42:09

Noriega

42:12

said no, it wasn't. But of course the accused,

42:14

especially in this situation, probably

42:17

wouldn't say that it was. I

42:19

doubt the people in Nuremberg agreed that it was fair

42:21

either.

42:22

And it's been reported that the trial

42:24

itself was full

42:27

of irregularities, some

42:29

cash payments to witnesses and returned

42:31

for their testimony against Noriega.

42:34

But nonetheless, this trial

42:37

did proceed according to

42:39

civil procedure.

42:41

Ultimately, it seems like the

42:43

charges were trumped up a bit,

42:46

but it really didn't matter whether they were

42:48

trumped up or not. He was convicted on

42:50

eight counts of drug trafficking with a few

42:52

more of money laundering and

42:55

even they threw in racketeering for good

42:57

measure.

43:01

In July 1992,

43:03

two and a half years after the invasion of Panama,

43:06

Noriega receives

43:08

a forty year prison sentence.

43:11

Now approaching his 60th birthday,

43:14

it seems likely you'll never know freedom

43:16

again.

43:18

But it's not all bad news.

43:21

Once he was convicted, he was

43:23

given some level of a treatment that was

43:25

in accordance with his status as a former

43:27

head of state. And he was incarcerated in

43:30

a minimal security facility

43:32

called the Metropolitan Correctional Center,

43:34

which is on the southern outskirts of Miami.

43:37

So essentially he was in a hotel with walls.

43:43

Noriega spends his prison years attempting

43:45

to clear his name

43:47

in the court of public opinion, at

43:50

least. In 1997, he publishes his memoir,

43:53

America's Prisoner,

43:55

working with US journalist Peter Eisner.

43:58

The book is a bullish def... of his years

44:00

in power and a damning indictment

44:03

of his nemesis, George H.W.

44:06

Bush.

44:07

The way Noriega sees it, the

44:09

former CIA director betrayed him

44:12

for political reasons.

44:14

He was just in the wrong place at the

44:16

wrong time.

44:18

By now Bush too has been ousted,

44:21

in his case at the ballot box by Bill

44:23

Clinton. But for

44:25

the former president, Noriega's

44:27

allegations are still embarrassing.

44:30

Almost a decade after his downfall,

44:32

he continues to be a thorn in Bush's

44:35

side.

44:36

In 2007, 15 years

44:39

after his initial conviction,

44:41

Noriega is released for

44:43

good behaviour.

44:46

He's recently had himself baptised

44:48

as a born again Christian.

44:51

But Noriega isn't free yet. No

44:54

sooner have the Americans let him go. He's

44:58

extradited to France. This

45:00

time, the charge is money laundering.

45:04

Apparently some three million dollars of his narcotics

45:06

profits

45:07

went into buying luxury Parisian apartments.

45:12

Another seven year sentence is added to Noriega's

45:14

docket.

45:16

But once more, he'll

45:18

serve only half of it

45:20

before he's extradited yet again to

45:23

Panama.

45:27

Twenty years after his ousting,

45:29

Noriega's people are finally ready to

45:31

bring him to justice.

45:35

Panama

45:35

wanted him as well for

45:37

the Gallego murders, Spalacueta

45:39

murders. So he

45:41

was back in Panama

45:44

in 2011 and he

45:46

was placed in jail at a place

45:48

with a lovely name, Renacer,

45:51

which means rebirth.

45:53

He would spend his time in prison,

45:56

continuing to advocate for

45:59

his position. But there's no

46:01

doubt that not only did he have health

46:03

issues, but he deteriorated.

46:08

What does the ex-dictator do? How

46:10

do they spend their time? Who am I going

46:12

to manipulate? And so I

46:15

think it was kind of like withdrawal

46:17

from having power.

46:20

In Panama, Noriega's

46:22

health takes a turn for the worse.

46:26

He develops a brain tumor.

46:28

He has surgery,

46:29

but succumbs to a hemorrhage.

46:32

He dies on May 29, 2017.

46:37

Up to the end, Noriega has been protesting

46:39

his innocence.

46:41

But there are few who mourn his passing.

46:50

Noriega has been in prison for almost three

46:52

decades.

46:54

In the meantime, his homeland

46:56

has moved on from the shadow of dictatorship.

47:00

On December 31, 1999, the

47:04

United States formally relinquishes

47:06

control of the canal zone.

47:08

And Panama doesn't look back.

47:12

It's an extraordinary instance of decolonization.

47:16

The Panamanian's got the canal. The economic

47:18

growth has been phenomenal. It's become

47:20

a hub of the Americas, economic hub of the Americas.

47:24

Ecommerce, banking,

47:26

aviation, all of that is now centered

47:28

in Panama. What a thriving

47:31

metropolis. The canal

47:34

itself improved

47:36

and ready for the whole century.

47:39

The country itself is thriving. It really

47:43

is a beautiful country. Beautiful

47:45

beaches, beautiful people. Panama

47:47

has become a country that

47:50

has now regained its force,

47:52

its

47:55

life, its heartbeat. Noriega's

47:59

legacy in power. Panama, at least

48:01

among Panamanians, is that

48:03

this was the last

48:06

and worst brush with dictatorship

48:08

that they ever wanted to have. And

48:12

not only from that point forward

48:14

did Panama become a stable

48:16

democracy, and it has been ever since,

48:19

but the Panamanians lost their

48:21

taste for actually having

48:24

a military. They have police,

48:26

yes, but they abolished their military

48:28

in Panama by constitutional amendment.

48:32

And with that,

48:35

Panama became one of the most stable

48:37

democratic countries in not

48:39

just Latin America, but also the world.

48:42

In fact, currently, Panama ranks

48:45

among democracies 37th out

48:47

of 137 countries, which in the grand scheme

48:52

of things is not too shabby.

48:54

This is a dramatically transformed

48:57

country. Today

49:01

while Panama's future remains bright,

49:03

difficult questions linger,

49:06

both about the Noriega years

49:09

and the intervention that

49:11

removed him.

49:13

The Americans took so many documents

49:16

during the invasion, thousands of boxes

49:19

full of documents. No one in

49:21

Panama has been like, okay, let's bring

49:23

them back and let's just start

49:26

a project

49:27

to see what happened. Everyone

49:29

is, let's just better not talk about it. The

49:32

occupation by foreign powers is never

49:34

really applicable. The Panamanian people

49:36

didn't deserve that, and they were

49:38

being punished for Noriega's misbeads.

49:41

They're still not sure how many died in the invasion.

49:44

The loss of buildings through bombing,

49:47

all of that left a real emotional

49:49

scar, trauma. The Panamanian psyche.

49:53

I went to the human rights organization

49:56

and they were in the process

49:58

of finding. mass graves

50:02

and victims of the invasion in particular.

50:05

And the process of identifying

50:08

remains,

50:08

one of the unfortunate

50:11

things about just the heat of

50:13

the building burnings was that bodies were

50:15

carbonized. I mean, they're just really,

50:18

really hard to identify. Coming

50:21

up with a death count, a victim count,

50:23

having a complete accounting is

50:25

hard. It's very convenient

50:28

to make Noriega the scapegoat

50:31

of everything. So everything gets centralized

50:34

in his image.

50:36

And then he was taken away. It

50:38

was kind of like, okay, let's just pretend that he

50:40

was the problem and let's just not

50:43

deal with it.

50:45

When the next time comes along, we

50:47

might do it a little bit better, but

50:50

to assume that the

50:52

United States or any other major power would

50:54

ever avoid dictators in the future

50:58

would be a mistaken assumption.

51:01

The United States continues.

51:03

And to this day, all major powers

51:05

do deal with those types

51:09

that ultimately are going to benefit

51:11

them. One way to think about this is

51:14

the famous saying of the French

51:16

general and later president Charles de Gaulle

51:19

who said that states do

51:21

not have friends. They

51:24

only have interest. And therefore,

51:26

if a country is your friend

51:28

today or a dictator is your friend today,

51:31

they may not be in the future. And

51:33

if you have to turn on them, that's

51:36

just the way the ball bounces.

51:37

In the next episode, we're in Southeastern Europe

51:46

in the 400s AD on the frontier of the Roman Empire.

51:47

The ones mighty

51:50

dominion.

51:58

in his riven in two,

52:01

and on the great Hungarian plain, a

52:04

fearsome enemy is rising.

52:08

The

52:08

incursions of the Huns will

52:10

see them level cities and enslave

52:12

thousands. Across

52:15

parts of the continent, Roman

52:17

civilization will be reduced

52:19

to rubble.

52:21

In life, and most certainly in

52:23

death, the Huns' king will

52:25

become a terrifying, iconic figure.

52:29

The archetype of warlord, providing

52:31

a model for would-be strongmen throughout

52:34

the centuries since. The

52:36

question is, who is

52:38

the real man behind the nightmares?

52:42

Attila the Hun, coming

52:45

soon on Real Dictators.