Jon Lee Anderson Visits Manuel Noriega in Prison

When Manuel Noriega died, last month, the Panamanian strongman had been in prison and out of the public eye  for a quarter century. A U.S. ally with C.I.A. ties, Noriega came to rule his country brutally, collaborated with the Medellín drug cartel, and eventually opposed the United States—symbolically waving a machete against America during rallies. The U.S. finally invaded Panama in 1989, and deposed him. In 2015, Noriega, incarcerated for decades on drug trafficking and other charges, granted a rare interview to Jon Lee Anderson. The former dictator admitted mistakes but apologized for nothing, and claimed that he had no bitterness toward his patrons turned conquerors.