Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Videotapes Bolster Noriega’s Defense

Videotaped statements from several imprisoned former aides to Manuel A. Noriega are helping defense attorneys in Miami attack key elements of the government’s drug-smuggling and racketeering case against the deposed Panamanian dictator. The sworn statements were taped because Panama would not permit the ex-aides to travel to the United States. In one of the tapes, Nivaldo Madrinan said some people who have testified against Noriega were under investigation by Panamanian law enforcement officials during the 1980s because of allegations that they had committed drug crimes themselves. Madrinan was a Noriega appointee who headed DENI, Panama’s equivalent of the FBI.