1990: Noriega surrenders

 History.com has this for 3 January:

On this day in 1990, Panama’s General Manuel Antonio Noriega (photo), after holing up for ten days at the Vatican embassy in Panama City, Panama, surrendered to US troops to face charges of drug trafficking. Noriega was flown to Miami the following day and crowds of citizens on the streets of Panama City rejoiced. On 10 Jult 19y2, the former dictator was convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering and sentenced to forty years in prison.
Noriega, born in Panama in 1938, was a loyal soldier to General Omar Torrijos, who seized power in a 1968 coup. Under Torrijos, Noriega headed up the notorious G-2 intelligence service, which harassed and terrorized people who criticized the Torrijos regime. Noriega also became a CIA operative while, at the same time, getting rich smuggling drugs.
In 1981, Omar Torrijos died in a plane crash and, after a two-year power struggle, Noriega emerged as general of Panama’s military forces. He became the country’s de facto leader, fixing presidential elections so he could install his own puppet officials. Noriega’s rule was marked by corruption and violence. He also became a double agent, selling American intelligence secrets to Cuba and Eastern European governments. In 1987, when Panamanians organized protests against Noriega and demanded his ouster, he declared a national emergency, shut down radio stations and newspapers, and forced his political enemies into exile.
That year the United States cut off aid to Panama and tried to get Noriega to resign; in 1988, the US began considering the use of military action to put an end to his drug trafficking. Noriega voided the presidential election in May of 1989, which included a US-backed candidate and, in December of that year, declared his country to be in a state of war with the United States. Shortly afterward, an American Marine was killed by Panamanian soldiers. Then-President George H.W. Bush authorized Operation Just Cause and, on 20 December 1989, thirteen thousand US troops were sent to occupy Panama City, along with the twelve thousand already there, and seize Noriega. During the invasion, two dozen US troops were killed in action and over three hundred were wounded. Approximately four hundred Panamanian troops were killed; estimates for the number of civilians who died range from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands injured.
Today, Noriega, derogatorily nicknamed Pineapple Face in reference to his pockmarked skin, is serving his sentence at a Federal prison in Miami, Florida.

Rico says that, for once, we were on the right side of a dictator...

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Subject: 1990: Noriega surrenders to U.S.

Jan 3 THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1990 Noriega surrenders to U.S. On this day in 1990, Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega (photo), after holing up for 10 days at the Vatican embassy in Panama City, surrenders to U.S. military troops to face charges of drug trafficking. Noriega was flown to Miami the following day and crowds of citizens on the streets of Panama City