Prosecutor Says Noriega Had Two Men Killed

Manuel A. Noriega ordered the killings of two drug traffickers he thought had cheated him and supervised a guns-for-drugs trade with the Medellin cocaine cartel, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.

The allegations were made during a hearing for Amet Paredes, the last major Noriega co-defendant in custody, who has agreed to testify against the deposed Panamanian leader.

Paredes pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler to one drug conspiracy count related to the voyage of the drug ship Krill in March, 1986. He was facing a maximum of 95 years in prison on four drug counts, but the prosecution agreed to recommend no more than 10 years on a single count related to the Krill voyage.

Paredes is the son of Gen. Ruben Dario Paredes, who shared power with Noriega briefly but was later forced out of the government and became his political enemy.

The Paredes family was involved with Noriega’s personal pilot, Cesar Rodriguez, in the purchase of the Krill, Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Sullivan said.

“The Krill was loaded with arms supplied by the Panamanian Defense Forces to be taken to Colombia and traded for approximately 400 (kilograms) of cocaine,” Sullivan said. “The Krill was readied with secret compartments, which were built into it.”

Rodriguez and Gen. Paredes’ other son, Ruben Dario Paredes Jr., sailed the Krill to Cartagena, Colombia. When the Paredeses needed permits and clearance for the ship to pass through Panamanian waters and the Panama Canal, they spoke to Noriega by speaker phone, Sullivan said. The crew placed a large photo of Noriega on board as a sign of his protection, he said.

The guns allegedly were unloaded in Cartagena, and the cocaine was put aboard. The ship then sailed toward the United States but was seized at sea.

Meanwhile, Paredes Jr. and Rodriguez flew on to Medellin to meet with cartel members, but they disappeared, Sullivan said. They were ordered killed by Noriega because he felt that Rodriguez had cheated him on another drug deal, the prosecutor said.

Gen. Paredes went to Colombia to search for his son and eventually found the bodies, Sullivan said.

Noriega is to go to trial on July 24 on charges that he accepted $4.6 million in bribes from the Medellin cartel to provide a safe haven in Panama for the drug traffickers.