Fact check
Is it true: Manuel Noriega and the CIA?
Yes — this is confirmed.
Declassified CIA records and Senate reports (Kerry Committee, 1988-1989) document Noriega's decades-long CIA relationship. He began receiving CIA payments in 1967. Under George H.W. Bush's CIA directorship (1976), Noriega was formally on CIA payroll. Continued payments through Reagan era (1981-1988). Simultaneously, Noriega ran Panamanian intelligence, trafficked Colombian cartel cocaine, laundered money through Panamanian banks, and ran political assassination operations (including against Hugo Spadafora in 1985). The US indicted Noriega on drug charges in February 1988 but continued CIA relationship until the invasion. Operation Just Cause (December 1989) captured Noriega. Convicted federally in 1992, served US prison time, then extradited to France and Panama for further trials.
The claim
The long-documented relationship between Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and the US Central Intelligence Agency, including his role as a paid CIA asset (1967-1988) while simultaneously trafficking
Key evidence
CIA paid Noriega $322K+ as asset
Early CIA relationship denied publicly
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