Why Inmate #38699-079 Can't Go Home

Talk about simpler times! It was 1989 and Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega had fallen out of favor with the first Bush administration over his repressive rule and embrace of the drug cartels that were flooding American communities with cheap and potent cocaine. <>In a lightning fast U.S. invasion dubbed Operation Justice Cause, Noriega was ousted and extradited to the U.S., where he stood trial on drug racketeering charges in Miami and was sentenced to prison.

On Saturday, the man with the bad complexion who was called "Pineapple Face," although always behind his back, finished his prison sentence in a two-room suite at Miami’s Federal Correctional Institution nicknamed the "Presidential Suite." But against his wishes, former inmate number 38699-079 will not be returning to Panama because the U.S. has decided to extradite him to France to face money laundering charges and up to 10 more years behind bars.

There is no love loss for Noriega in Panama, which embraced democracy after his ouster and by regional standards has become an economic success story. Besides which, he faces murder, embezzlement and corruption charges there and is widely viewed as being politically irrelevant.

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