Dr. Hugo Spadafora was a dashing young [[Panama|Panamanian]] doctor who became a hero to many Panamanians as an unusual mix of revolutionary warrior and middle-class professional. He fought alongside [[Eden Pastora]] against the Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s, leading an international brigade of jungle fighters, the Brigada Internacional Simón Bolívar, in support of Pastora's southern forces. The [[DEA]] called him "reportably the best known guerrilla fighter in Central America."[^1] After the Sandinista revolution, Spadafora gave up his medical practice in Panama and, with his wife Winy, moved to [[Costa Rica]] to take up arms with Pastora once again - this time against their old Marxist comrades. He served as Panama's vice minister of public health.[^1] ### Gathering Evidence on Noriega In the months before his murder, Spadafora befriended [[Floyd Carlton|Floyd Carlton Caceres]], a drug and arms smuggler who had run Noriega's drug operation. Carlton shared intimate details of Noriega's drug trade, including the names of pilots and dates of drug flights through Costa Rica. Carlton also implicated Noriega's high school buddy, [[Sebastian Gonzalez|"Guachan" Gonzalez]], who was hiding out in Panama from a Costa Rican cocaine indictment. Spadafora excitedly told friends he had the proof needed to document the dictator's participation in cocaine trafficking and was convinced the revelations would sink the tyrant.[^1] ### Murder When Noriega's goons found Spadafora in September 1985, they found everything but his head. His body had been tied up in a U.S. mail sack and dumped under a bridge on the border of Costa Rica and Panama. His thigh muscles had been sliced so he could not close his legs, something had been jammed up his rectum tearing it apart, his testicles were swollen from prolonged garroting, his ribs were broken, and then, while still alive, his head had been sawed off with a butcher's knife.[^1] Spadafora had been hauled off a bus at the Panamanian border in full view of dozens of witnesses while on his way to [[Panama City]] to publicly release evidence of Noriega's cocaine smuggling activities. His murder brought thousands into the streets of Panama City, forming a miles-long human chain of outrage. Panama's civilian president Nicolas Barletta announced an immediate investigation but was forced to resign by Noriega a few weeks later. Charged with masterminding the murder, Noriega was convicted in absentia by a Panamanian court in 1993.[^1] ### CIA and DEA Complicity Spadafora had shared his discoveries with the DEA's office in San Jose, including "vague allegations" that Gonzalez, Noriega, and another [[Contras|Contra]] leader were engaged in drug trafficking. The DEA's [[Robert Nieves]] met Spadafora twice but told La Nacion his discussions were "not important" and did nothing with the information. The CIA's Costa Rican station chief [[Joseph Fernandez]] helped Noriega plant false media reports about the murder, creating a German witness named Manfred Hoffman who falsely claimed Spadafora was killed by Salvadoran guerrillas. Jose Blandón, Noriega's consul general, testified that Hoffman "was a witness who was created by Noriega, and he was obtained through the CIA operating in Costa Rica."[^1] Gonzalez and drug trafficker [[Horacio Pereira]] were captured on Costa Rican wiretaps discussing Spadafora's investigation and plotting to silence him, including a scheme to pay a witness to falsely accuse Spadafora of drug trafficking. The CIA had first received reports of Gonzalez's drug dealings in October 1983, after Spadafora informed an agent that "Noriega was smuggling drugs with the Contras and that Gonzalez was involved." The agent's supervisor "replied that CIA had heard some rumors of drug trafficking involving the Contras."[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 12: "This guy talks to God"