Transcript of Noriega Tapes Is Released

A federal judge Thursday released a 72-page transcript of telephone conversations of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, tape recorded in his jail cell talking to his wife, his daughters, his mistress and his mistress’s mother. The talk is riddled with cryptic references to the weather, food deliveries, private messages and even Frankenstein.

In most of the fragmented conversations, the former Panamanian dictator does little but listen and say yes. But in one phone call he seems to discuss government policies in his homeland and expresses concern for former allies now jailed. In another he complains that he jammed his fingers playing basketball. “Damn it,” he says, “my hand swelled up.”

Release of the court transcripts followed a ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler that the tapes, obtained in Panama last month by the Cable News Network, did not contain any conversations that might impede Noriega’s right to a fair trial. Only one attorney-client conversation is included on the tapes, and that was broadcast by CNN Nov. 9.

These conversations have already been before the U.S. Supreme Court in what was billed as a constitutional battle over freedom of the press and a criminal defendant’s right to a fair trial.

The transcripts were entered into the court record Thursday when CNN decided not to appeal Hoeveler’s ruling, which followed a motion by four news organizations arguing for their release.

As CNN spokesman Steve Haworth said earlier this week, many of the conversations between Noriega and family members and friends seemed to be in code. In one conversation with a woman identified as Norma, the mother of Noriega’s mistress, Vicki Amado, she addresses the general as “little soldier,” and then goes on to tell him that “at any given moment there we have . . . a good towel.”

“Ah, perfect,” responds Noriega.

“And the important thing,” adds Norma, “is that it shouldn’t be a hand towel.”

“Yes,” Noriega agrees.

CNN has refused to say how it obtained the tape recordings, which were made at the federal prison south of here, where Noriega has been held on drug charges since he was seized during the U.S. invasion of Panama a year ago this month. Frank A. Rubino, Noriega’s chief attorney, said that CNN got the tapes from an official of the Panamanian government.

Held in a two-room cell, Noriega has full-time access to a telephone but knows his calls are monitored and recorded. The English-language transcripts, compiled by a Spanish-speaking court interpreter, reveal little of Noriega’s moods or thoughts. But they are filled with apparently guarded references to those who might aid his defense against charges that he received millions of dollars in payments from smugglers shipping cocaine into the U.S.

Meanwhile, a co-defendant of Noriega’s, former Lt. Col. Luis A. del Cid, formally agreed Thursday in U.S. District Court to testify against his former chief.

Del Cid, once the commander of the Panamanian Defense Force in western Panama, pleaded guilty to illegally transporting U.S. funds.

Under a plea-bargain agreement, other charges resulting from his alleged involvement in racketeering and money-laundering with Noriega were dropped. Prosecutors say that Del Cid, who surrendered to U.S. forces during last December’s invasion of Panama, acted as Noriega’s emissary to the drug cartel.