MIAMI, April 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. government Monday sent former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega to France, where he faces trial on money laundering charges, his attorney said.
Noriega -- who spent 20 years in a federal prison in Miami for drug trafficking, racketeering and money laundering after being deposed following the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama -- was extradited after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed the orders, CNN reported.
France accuses Noriega -- who had spent the past 2 1/2 years since his release from prison trying to avoid being sent anywhere except Panama -- of using its banking system to filter revenues from drug sales.
CNN said Noriega was wearing handcuffs and flanked by U.S. marshals as he was put on a commercial Air France flight at Miami International Airport. It didn't sit well with his attorney.
"I would have hoped, if an order was signed, that the State Department would have the courtesy to respond to his lawyers and tell them an order was signed," Noriega attorney Frank Rubino said. "I'm in total shock they did this without the common courtesy of a phone call."
