Today in History - April 9: Dictator drug lord surrenders after 10 days of listening to Van Halen

Panama dictator Manuel Noriega was found guilty on drug charges on April 9, 1992, three years after the US invaded his country to arrest him.

Noriega had played a major role in drug trafficking operations in the 1970s and 1980s, collaborating with South American drug lords to amass an immense personal fortune.

Going from Panama's intelligence chief to its de facto ruler to a full-blown dictator, Noriega ruled his country with an iron fist.

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Eventually tensions between the US and Panama reached a boiling point, and the Americans invaded in 1989.

In the largest US military operation since the Vietnam War, the Americans quickly overwhelmed the Panama military.

Noriega took sanctuary in the Vatican's embassy in Panama City.

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Rather than break a treaty by invading the embassy, the US Delta Force blasted a Van Halen cassette non-stop for ten days.

Noriega surrendered ten days later.

During his trial in the US it was revealed that for the last few decades, Noriega had been a CIA informant and US collaborator. 

After serving his sentence in the US, he was jailed in France for money laundering, then jailed in Panama for murder.

He died in 2017.

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