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Signs of Occult Found in Abandoned Noriega Office

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From Times Wire Services

U.S. troops think they almost got Gen. Manuel A. Noriega on the first day of the invasion when they broke into a fortified house, finding signs of panicky flight and, by one account, “vats of blood” and animal entrails.

The abandoned office and house, on the seacoast near here and close to several U.S. military bases, was stormed by U.S. soldiers on Tuesday, about six hours after the U.S. incursion began.

“The cigarettes were still smoking in the ashtray and the women left their purses, which no woman would ever usually do,” a soldier familiar with the house said.

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But Noriega was not found in the retreat that had been specially built for him, and soldiers continued scouring the countryside for the deposed leader wanted in the United States on drug charges.

The American soldier said troops who saw the house spread the word that one room was apparently devoted to the occult, with blood and entrails.

Military officials could not immediately confirm the soldier’s account.

Saying the house might have been booby-trapped, officers would not allow reporters and photographers inside, Gen. John Huston said.

Another soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Torregrossa, said there were bizarre trappings in another of Noriega’s quarters, his private office in Panama’s military barracks at Ft. Amador.

“When we went inside, there were all of these expensive prints, but he also had a portrait of Adolf Hitler and a lot of expensive weapons, mostly automatic,” Torregrossa said. “He had German Lugers, Israeli Uzis, all sorts of real sophisticated stuff.”

Elsewhere in the city, a two-hour tour through a bombed-out shopping district that once was a Noriega stronghold showed scenes of near chaos as thousands of looters seized refrigerators, microwave ovens, car tires, gasoline and other goods.

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They cheerfully stopped, however, to shout “Viva Bush! Viva Bush!” or “Bush, Bush, Bush!” as they waved to soldiers and journalists. One held up a knife sharpener and joked, “It’s a present from Bush.”

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