The CIA must give Manuel Noriega's defense any evidence showing the agency worked secretly with drug traffickers to support the Contras, a judge ruled in a decision made public Friday.
The heavily censored month-old ruling, which followed a week of closed-door hearings on classified documents in July, was released as jury selection entered its second day."Evidence that persons alleged to have engaged in narcotics activities with Noriega were employed by the CIA relative to Contra operations appears to be important to Noriega's defense," U.S. District Judge William Hoe-veler wrote in his decision.
Noriega's lawyers have suggested the deposed Panamanian leader's part in cocaine-trafficking related to CIA efforts to finance U.S.-backed Contras fighting Nicaragua's leftist government in the mid-1980s.
Hoeveler's decision also ordered the government to provide any evidence of $10 million in indirect U.S. payments the defense claims Noriega received. The CIA and the Army have admitted making $320,000 in direct payments.
But the judge said the defense can't have secret reports of then-Vice President George Bush's meeting with Noriega in 1983, because it's unrelated to the "Contra pipeline."
More than 10 pages of the ruling were blanked out for security reasons.
The defense must also get some details of Noriega's role as a conduit for intelligence between Cuban President Fidel Castro and the United States. The issue arose during jury selection.
Potential jurors questioned Friday said they were troubled by the role of Castro, who has said he wants to help prove Noriega is innocent.
"To be honest, I wouldn't be able to be fair about judging Mr. Castro," jury candidate Maria Armario said. Several others indicated they agreed with her.