Manuel Noriega to be freed in September

Prisoner 38699-079 will be resuming use of his real name in 2007.

According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega will be released from a Dade County, Florida prison on September 9, 2007 after completing his sentence on international drug trafficking and money laundering charges.

Noriega, who is now 72 years old, announced his intention to return to Panama to retire, but faces charges in Panama related to various crimes that dictators are wont to while in power, such as a string of murders, "disappearances" of political opponents, and heavy embezzlement. Noriega would hardly rank as a dictator of any merit if his abuses were minor enough for Panamanians to forgive and forget, after all.

Whatever his future, these things are certain: he won't be staying in Miami once he's out, and he's definitely crossed former President George Herbert Walker Bush off his Christmas card list forever (for some reason or other).