Manuel Noriega

Like if it did, it's been shredded for decades.

this so the money laundering stuff is missing but what this does prove is that um noriega was like a true ally for the us government for so long right right and he really and he curbed like the narco trade from escobar and the ochoa's like colombia for so long that the the narrative that the sort of that the american seller the narrative that currently exists is that like this guy like used to help us out he was an asset in central america and then he went rogue

What they don't really say is that they propped him up, used him, milked this guy dry, and then discarded him when he started to revolt and when he started to act upon his own interests and his own nation's interests.

that being said it's very complex because like the people of panama also hate noriega right he was brutal to the people at the lowest levels you know the uh the wealth disparity in the country was like was awful i like to call it a third world country with the golden crown right because the golden crown was like you know the banking system like you know are you familiar with the sort of like the reason why the banking system exists there

It started... They call it like the Switzerland of the Americas because a lot of people like money laundering.

Yeah, I think that happened and he became dictator in 1983 and then he passes law.

He passed a law called law 83 Which did just that like he they put more regulations on it I say that because like it was still like a total money laundering hub like give me the ability to seize money.

He just took control of the country, right?

He took control of everything

So I'm learning all this stuff anyway through these documents about Noriega's relationship with the US, DEA, all that sort of stuff.

And Trujillo, you know, speaks in Spanish, doesn't speak in English, says all this stuff to Carlos.

Carlos turns to me, he's like, yeah, you know, you can speak to Trujillo if you want.

So then Trujillo leaves.

Carlos and I spend like the next week and a half at that point sort of interviewing all these other people.

I've got a lot more detail for the book.

During that time, I also make use of sort of like getting these contacts from Jose and these other guys who can also put me in touch with Americans too.

Because at this point, I was really getting mostly Panamanian stories and

and some journalists and stuff like that.

But I get put in touch with US soldiers during the invasion.

I met this one guy who, he is sort of like a tinfoil hat kind of guy now, but he was a CIA operative, and he lives in the woods in the rainforest in Panama, and he covers his house in aluminum foil so that the satellites can't see him.