Panama City was the operational center of [[Manuel Noriega|Noriega]]'s military dictatorship and a hub for [[cocaine]] trafficking and money laundering connected to the Contra war. The Panamanian capital served as a financial center where drug money was washed clean and a transit point for narcotics flowing north from [[South America]].[^1] ### Drug Trafficking Hub Noriega's pilots used Panama as a base for drug flights that refueled at Contra airstrips in northern [[Costa Rica]] before continuing to the [[United States]]. Floyd Carlton, a Panamanian pilot working with Noriega, plotted drug flights and arranged the laundering of cocaine profits through companies based in Panama City. The city's banking secrecy laws made it an ideal location for the financial operations of the Contra-connected drug networks.[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Ch. 14. [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Ch. 14.