Lifestyle opulent, but salary only $46,500 a year

Press, 28 December 1989, Page 8

Lifestyle opulent, but salary only $46,500 a year

NZPA-Reuter Panama City The deposed Panamanian leader, General Manuel Antonio Noriega, officially earned a modest $NZ46,500 a year, but he was surrounded by the trappings of the rich — luxury cars, yachts and a mansion. The United States says drug money, and not General Noriega’s military salary, made his opulent lifestyle possible, and has launched a public relations campaign to press home the point. The deposed Panamanian leader has sought refuge in the Vatican mission in Panama City, safe, for the moment, from a United States Government that wants him to stand trial in Florida on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.

United States officials in Panama yesterday showed reporters the fruits of what they said were General Noriega’s ill-gotten gains in an effort to alienate him from his compatriots, most of whom live in poverty. “When people see how Noriega was living and stealing from them they won’t want him back,” a United States officer said. “The story of this truly evil man continues to unfold with bizarre evidence of his incredible lifestyle,” a United States military press release said. Military authorities later took reporters on Panama’s equivalent of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

The reporters were given a tour of General Noriega’s two yachts, floating palaces named Macho de Monte I and 11, which have been impounded by the United States Navy at the Rod-

man Naval Base in the Canal Zone. “Not bad for a man of his salary,” the naval base commander told reporters when he took them aboard the SNZ2.6 million 20m Macho de Monte I.

The boat, with its plush upholstery and carpets, is equipped with SNZI7,OOO worth of fishing gear. “Here we have the hall of mirrors,” the commander said, pointing out the boat’s main bedroom, which was'surrounded by mirrors. “He and (his mistress) Vicky (Amado) used to play down here a lot,” the commander said. The United States Navy also found some not-so-standard luxury yacht items on board; 11 automatic rifles, two rocket launchers and some anti-tank bazookas.

Driving away from the naval base over the Bridge of the Americas, which spans the mouth of the Panama Canal, United States officials like to point out a large white mansion at the end of Flamingo Island which belonged to General Noriega. Nearby is another Noriega residence known as the “Witch House.” The house, with a Mercedes parked in the driveway, boasts a huge French style marble dining room. It also contains voodoo paraphernalia, pornographic magazines, cocaine, and a picture of Adolf Hitler.

According to a former Panamanian Government official, General Noriega’s salary was SNZ2I2S a month plus SNZI7OO in expenses.