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Photos: U.S. Marshalls Service
On this day in January 1990, the once defiant Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was being led away in handcuffs by DEA agents. He was placed on an American C-130, before being whisked off to Miami to face drug charges.
It was a stunning end for Panama’s strongman and head of a drug-dealing empire, who had been seduced by power and fell prey to living with the excesses of a dictator.
Noriega was born poor but was able to get a commission in the Panamanian National Guard. There, he became a protégé of Omar Torrijos, the future dictator. Noriega moved up the ranks and became head of the intelligence service where he kept detailed files on members of the military, government, and the judiciary.