PANAMANIAN DICTATOR NORIEGA DIES AT 83|與台淵源深 巴拿馬前獨裁者諾瑞嘉83歲病逝

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who spied for the CIA before his drug trafficking and brutal regime sparked an US invasion in 1989 has died at age 83. Noriega's death was announced by incumbent President Juan Carlos Varela on May 29. Noriega ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989. He was a longtime collaborator with the CIA and a U.S. ally against the political left in South America. But his excesses and practices of money-laundering and cocaine smuggling, drained Washington's patience and prompted an invasion that toppled him. He was initially sentenced in the US in 1992, but was sent back to a Panamanian jail in 2011. His death was the result of complications from an operation to remove a tumor. Panama is the Republic of China's most long standing diplomatic ally, with official relations starting 1909, due to a large Chinese diaspora dating from the 1800's. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR