Editing Manuel Noriega (section)

==Early life and family==
Noriega was born in [[Panama City]], into a relatively poor [[pardo]], or triracial, family with [[Indigenous peoples of Panama|Native Panamanian]], [[Afro-Panamanians|African]], and [[Spanish diaspora|Spanish heritage]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Eisner |first1=Peter |title=Manuel Noriega, Panamanian strongman toppled in U.S. invasion, dies at 83 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/manuel-noriega-panamanian-strongman-toppled-in-us-invasion-dies-at-83/2017/05/30/9c2d77bc-0384-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html |access-date=April 27, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 30, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Kempe|1990|pp=37–39}}{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=29–31}} His date of birth is generally given as February 11, 1934, but is a matter of uncertainty. It has been variously recorded as that date in 1934, 1936, and 1938. Noriega himself provided differing dates of birth.<ref name="nytimesobit" /> He was born in the neighborhood of El Terraplen de San Felipe.<ref name="LP Obituary">{{cite news |title=Noriega, el ascenso y caída de un dictador |url=https://www.prensa.com/judiciales/ascenso-caida-dictador_0_4768773077.html |language=es|trans-title=Noriega, the rise and fall of a dictator|access-date=January 9, 2021 |work=La Prensa |date=May 30, 2017}}</ref> Noriega's mother, who was not married to his father,{{sfn|Kempe|1990|pp=37–39}}{{sfn|Galván|2012|p=184}} has been described as a cook and a laundress, while his father, Ricaurte Noriega, was an accountant.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siemaszko |first=Corky |date=May 30, 2017 |title=Ousted Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is dead at 83 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/manuel-noriega-ousted-panamanian-dictator-dead-83-n730291 |access-date=April 29, 2023 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> His mother, whose family name was Moreno, died of [[tuberculosis]] when he was a child, and Noriega was brought up by a godmother<ref name="nytimesobit" />{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=29–31}} in a one-room apartment in the slum area of Terraplén.{{sfn|Galván|2012|p=184}} Both of his parents were dead by the time he was five years old.<ref name="LP Obituary"/>
[[File:Teen_Noriega_in_a_high_school_yearbook.jpg|thumb|Noriega in an Instituto Nacional yearbook]]
Noriega was educated first at the Escuela República de México, and later at the Instituto Nacional, a well-regarded high school in Panama City that had produced a number of nationalist political leaders. He was described as an "oddly serious child," a bookish student always neatly dressed by his godmother.{{sfn|Kempe|1990|pp=37–42}}{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=29–32}} During his time in the Instituto Nacional he met his older half-brother Luis Carlos Noriega Hurtado, a [[Socialism|socialist]] activist and also a student at the school: Manuel had not previously met his siblings. Manuel began living with Luis, who introduced him to politics, including recruiting him into the [[Socialist Party (Panama)|Socialist Party]]'s youth wing.<ref name="BunckFowler2012">{{cite book|first1=Julie Marie|last1=Bunck|first2=Michael Ross|last2=Fowler|title=Bribes, Bullets, and Intimidation: Drug Trafficking and the Law in Central America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ5QnZ99u24C|year=2012|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=978-0-271-04866-6}}</ref>{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=32–35}}{{sfn|Kempe|1990|pp=39–42}} Luis Noriega would later direct Panama's electoral tribunal.<ref name="BunckFowler2012"/> During his time in the socialist youth group, Noriega took part in protests and authored articles criticizing the U.S. presence in Panama.{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=32–35}} He is reported to have begun his association with the U.S. intelligence services at this time, providing information about the activities of his comrades.<ref name="Graham">{{cite news|last1=Graham|first1=David A.|title=The Death of Manuel Noriega—and U.S Intervention in Latin America |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/manuel-noriega-obituary-monroe-doctrine/518982/|date=May 30, 2017|access-date=June 7, 2017|work=The Atlantic}}</ref>{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=32–35}} A $10.70 payment in 1955 was the first he received from the U.S.<ref name="Johnston"/>{{sfn|Scranton|1991|p=13}}

Noriega intended to become a doctor, but was unable to secure a place in the [[University of Panama]]'s medical school. After graduating from the Instituto Nacional, Noriega won a scholarship to [[Chorrillos Military School]] in the Peruvian capital of [[Lima]], with the help of Luis, who had by then received a position in the Panamanian embassy in Peru. Noriega began studying in Lima in 1958. While there, he made the acquaintance of [[Roberto Díaz Herrera]], then studying at the Peruvian Police academy, who later became a close ally.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web|title=Manuel Noriega |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Manuel-Noriega|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=May 30, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Dinges|1990|pp=32–35}}

Noriega married Felicidad Sieiro in the late 1960s, and the couple had three daughters: Lorena; Sandra; and Thays.<ref name="nytimesobit" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Manuel Noriega Fast Facts |url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/19/world/americas/manuel-noriega-fast-facts/index.html |access-date=April 28, 2020 |work=CNN |date=May 30, 2017}}</ref> Sieiro had been a school teacher, and Noriega a member of the [[Panamanian Public Forces#The National Guard|National Guard]]. Her family, of [[Basques|Basque]] heritage, was reported to have been unhappy with the marriage. Noriega was repeatedly unfaithful to his wife, who at one point expressed a desire for a divorce, though she changed her mind later.{{sfn|Kempe|1990|pp=35–37}}