Changes

Noriega had much earlier gotten into trouble with the [[US State Department]] because of his drug dealing. But this changed when his support was needed in the negotiations for a new [[Panama Canal Treaty]].

Noriega had much earlier gotten into trouble with the [[US State Department]] because of his drug dealing. But this changed when his support was needed in the negotiations for a new [[Panama Canal Treaty]].

{{Quotebox|"By 1976, Noriega was fully forgiven. CIA Director [[George HW Bush|George Bush]] arranged to pay Noriega $110,000 a year for his services, put the Panamanian up as a houseguest of his deputy CIA director, and helped to prevent an embarrassing prosecution of several American soldiers who had delivered highly classified U.S. intelligence secrets to Noriega's men. . . .

{{Quotebox|"By 1976, Noriega was fully forgiven. CIA Director [[George HW Bush|George Bush]] arranged to pay Noriega $110,000 a year for his services, put the Panamanian up as a houseguest of his deputy CIA director, and helped to prevent an embarrassing prosecution of several American soldiers who had delivered highly classified U.S. intelligence secrets to Noriega's men. . . .<br>

"If Carter needed friends in Panama to smooth the way for a canal treaty, [[Reagan]] (who strongly opposed that treaty) needed them to support the Contra cause. . . . CIA payments to Noriega resumed when Reagan took office in 1981, starting at $185,000 a year. At their peak, in 1985, Noriega collected $200,000 from the Agency. The CIA deposited the money in Noriega's account at the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, two of whose units later pleaded guilty to laundering drug money. CIA Director William Casey frequently met with Noriega alone in Washington."<ref>Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall, ''Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America'', University of California Press, 1991</ref>}}

"If [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] needed friends in Panama to smooth the way for a canal treaty, [[Reagan]] (who strongly opposed that treaty) needed them to support the Contra cause. . . . CIA payments to Noriega resumed when Reagan took office in 1981, starting at $185,000 a year. At their peak, in 1985, Noriega collected $200,000 from the Agency. The CIA deposited the money in Noriega's account at the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, two of whose units later pleaded guilty to laundering drug money. CIA Director William Casey frequently met with Noriega alone in Washington."<ref>Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall, ''Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America'', University of California Press, 1991</ref>}}

==References==

==References==