Who was Manuel Noriega? How the Panamanian dictator went from being a secret ally to an enemy of the US

AP Photo

Panamanian military strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega talks to reporters in Panama City on Nov. 8, 1989.

Before getting overthrown by the American government, Manuel Antonio Noriega was paid to spy for the CIA.

On May 29, the former Panamanian dictator died after leaving prison briefly to receive surgery for a benign tumor in his brain. Over the last three decades, Noriega went from working as a CIA informant to spending years in US prison.

Here's what you need to know about the complicated and flip-flopping Central American figure who finished the last years of his life between American, French, and Panamanian jails: