Sun Sentinel, March 3, 1992
CIA KNEW OF NORIEGA'S '84 MEETING WITH CASTRO
The testimony of Donald Winters, a former CIA station chief in Panama, is important to Noriega's defense because it suggests that Noriega did not seek to hide his trip to Cuba from U.S. scrutiny as has been suggested by prosecution witnesses.
To the contrary, Winters said Noriega told him two weeks before the meeting that Castro had invited the Panamanian general to Havana. Winters said Noriega told him the meeting was to discuss the civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Winters' version of the meeting, recorded in classified memos and cables to CIA headquarters, differs sharply from the version presented by the prosecution.
Federal prosecutors say Noriega traveled to Havana to ask Castro to mediate a potentially deadly dispute with top members of Colombia's Medellin cocaine cartel. They say the cartel chiefs were upset because a major drug lab had been seized in Panama despite payment of millions of dollars in protection money to Noriega.
According to the Noriega indictment, Castro negotiated a peace accord between the cartel and Noriega at the 1984 meeting. The allegation forms a cornerstone of the racketeering and drug trafficking charges against Noriega.
"This testimony tears right at the heart of the government's case," defense attorney Frank Rubino said after Winters' appearance.
Prosecutors suggested Noriega's comments to Winters were a cover story aimed at masking the central issue of the Havana talks.
Under cross-examination, Winters said Noriega never mentioned anything to him about Castro's mediating a dispute with the cartel. Winters said he would have reported such information to the CIA if he had received it.
Prosecutors have sought to portray Noriega as a manipulative double-dealer who cooperated with drug traffickers one day and U.S. drug and intelligence agents the next, never revealing a true picture of his dealings to either side.
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