The World - News from Sept. 16, 1988

Lawyers for Gen. Manuel A. Noriega filed a sealed motion in Miami to dismiss drug charges against the Panamanian strongman, but they denied prosecutors’ suggestions that Noriega is seeking to “cut himself a deal” in a U.S. presidential election year. “I am not engaging in any kind of political chicanery,” said Neal Sonnett, one of the American lawyers representing Noriega. “We have important legal issues. Those are the only things we’re arguing. There is no political purpose to this motion at all.” Noriega was indicted by two federal grand juries in Florida on Feb. 4 on drug-trafficking charges.