Manuel Noriega, ex-Panamanian dictator, dies at 83

Manuel Antonio Noriega, the former Panamanian dictator who was ousted from power by a U.S. invasion in 1989, has died. He was 83.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela announced Noriega's death on Twitter, saying it "closes a chapter" in the country's history. Miguel Mayo, Panama's health minister, also confirmed Noriega's death, Telemetro.com reported.

Noriega died from a hemorrhage following surgery to remove a brain tumor.

The former general — a onetime U.S. ally who ruled Panama with an iron fist from 1983 until 1989 — served a 17-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering in the United States after his ouster. After he completed that sentence in 2007, he was imprisoned in France for money laundering, before being returned in 2011 to Panama, where he had already been convicted in absentia.

Noriega accused Washington of a “conspiracy” to keep him behind bars and tied his legal troubles to his refusal to cooperate with a U.S. plan aimed at toppling Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government in the 1980s.

Following Noriega’s ouster Panama underwent huge changes, taking over the Panama Canal from U.S. control in 1999, expanding the waterway and enjoying a boom in tourism and real estate.

Today, the nation has little in common with the bombed-out neighborhoods where Noriega hid during the 1989 invasion by the U.S. military, before being famously smoked out of his refuge at the Vatican Embassy by loud rock music blared by U.S. troops.

During the operation, 23 U.S. military personnel died and 320 were wounded, and the Pentagon estimated 200 Panamanian civilians and 314 soldiers were killed.

In recent years, Noriega, who was known as “Pineapple Face” for his pockmarked complexion, had suffered various ailments, including high blood pressure and bronchitis. He spent the final years of his life in a Panamanian prison for the murder of political opponents during his six-year reign.

In 2016, doctors detected the rapid growth of a benign brain tumor that had first been spotted four years earlier. In January, a court granted Noriega house arrest to prepare for surgery on the tumor. After surgery in March, Noriega's daughters said he suffered a hemorrhage that left him in grave condition.

Manuel Antonio Noriega was born poor in Panama City on Feb. 11, 1934, and was raised by foster parents.

He joined Panama’s Defense Forces in 1962 and steadily rose through the ranks, mainly through loyalty to his mentor, Gen. Omar Torrijos, who became Panama’s de facto leader after a 1968 coup.

As Torrijos’ intelligence chief, Noriega monitored political opponents and developed close ties with U.S. intelligence agencies guarding against possible threats to the Panama Canal. Two years after Torrijos died in a mysterious plane crash in 1981, Noriega became the head of the armed forces and Panama’s military ruler.

Despite his rule, Noriega was never elected president.

He is survived by his wife, Felicidad, and daughters Lorena, Thays and Sandra.

Contributing: The Associated Press