Former Panama dictator, drug trafficker, and sometime informant of the United States, Manuel Antonio Noriega, is dead at 83. President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama announced Noriega’s death on Twitter early Tuesday morning (May 30). “The death of Manuel A. Noriega closes a chapter in our history; his daughters and his relatives deserve to bury him in peace,” his post read.
The notorious politician and military officer passed around 11 p.m. Monday, at Santo Tomás Hospital in Panama City, according to the New York Times. The official cause of death was not immediately available, although reports say a once-benign brain tumor is at the root of a brain hemorrhage that lead to a series of other medical complications.
While imprisoned abroad he suffered strokes, hypertension and other ailments, his lawyers said. After returning to Panama on December 11, 2011, he began serving long sentences for murder, embezzlement and corruption in connection with his rule during the 1980s.
For more on the problematic figure and duplicitous nature of Noriega, read here.