IMAGE SOURCE: (The Panama Digest) 

BY ANTHONY MARTINEZ

Ex-Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is en route back to Panama after spending more than two decades behind bars for charges of money laundering and drug trafficking. Here’s Euronews …

“Panama’s former dictator Manuel Noriega is being flown home to serve 40 years in prison for murders committed during his rule. He left Paris Sunday where he’s been behind bars following a conviction for money laundering.”

Noriega had been in prison in Paris after he was extradited there by the U.S. in 2010. Now, he’s being extradited to Panama. CNN reports that, even with the 40 years, Noriega isn’t out of the hot seat yet.

“Panamanian officials want him to face justice there in the case of the killing of Hugo Spadafora, a doctor and political opponent of Noriega…He also was fined almost 2.3 million euros ($2.9 million), the amount of drug money he was accused of laundering through French banks.”

In Panama, if you’re more than 70-years-old, you can appeal to serve the rest of your jail sentence under house arrest. But, protesters in Panama City say that Noriega, even in his old age, should get no special treatment -- which they argue he’s had in the past.

After the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, Noriega was detained in Miami under minimum security until 2007. He lived in his own bungalow with workout equipment and a television. Christian Science Monitor reports that, with his return in Panama, there are …

“…rumors reflected in local cartoons depicting Noriega’s prison cell with plasma TV.”

Noriega is also being pressured to give up his best-kept secrets, if he has any. More than 100 people went missing during his rule.

Patria Portugal spoke to the Guardian on behalf of her father, Heliodoro Portugal, who was murdered in 1970 for opposing Panama’s military leaders.

"We hope he talks and says where the rest of the disappeared are, what happened to those who were killed...We hope ... he asks for forgiveness of the Panamanian nation for the all the crimes he committed."