Cedar Rapids man recalls hand in 1990 takedown of Manuel Noriega

CEDAR RAPIDS - Last month's death of brash former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was taken into U.S. custody in 1990, held special meaning for a Cedar Rapids man.

Roger Arechiga, 72, retired from the U.S. Marshals Service, had a hand in Noriega's capture 17 years ago as chief of the Special Operations Group. Apprehending Noriega, who died at 83 on May 29 while on house arrest in Panama, was a highlight of Arechiga's career and one of the agency's highest profile missions ever, he said.

'For publicity, that was probably our No. 1 case,” Arechiga said. 'Although, we probably did a lot more good for our country responding to Hurricane Hugo.”

Arechiga assigned 30 deputy marshals from the Special Operations Group to the U.S. Army to aid in the invasion of Panama - code name Operation Just Cause - in December 1989 and January 1990. Their specific charge was protecting U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents while they executed the arrest warrant on Noriega.

The Pentagon contacted the U.S. Marshals Service for help before the mission, Arechiga said. As division chief, he had to get permission from the assistant director, deputy director and director to release the marshals. The Army collected them from a training center at Camp Beauregard in Pineville, La.

'Noriega was arrested on a DEA warrant, but there were only a couple DEA agents in Panama at the time,” Arechiga said. 'Our mission basically was to protect the DEA while they affected that arrest warrant on Noriega with the help of the military.”

Arechiga was in Washington, D.C., during the invasion. Because the marshals were detailed to the Army, Arechiga didn't have direct communication during the mission, but he was able to arrange for a raw live feed from CNN to his office, he said.

The U.S. forces had cornered Noriega in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City, and meanwhile were assisting the DEA with raiding military bases for drugs. Rather than enter the embassy, the forces blasted rock 'n' roll music 24/7, eventually leading to Noriega's surrender after 10 days on Jan. 3, 1990.

Noriega was convicted on April 9, 1992, on eight counts of drug smuggling and racketeering.

Noriega was cuffed using the handcuffs of one of Arechiga's deputies - Marshal Timothy Goode - who is featured along with a DEA agent controlling Noriega in widely publicized photos of the arrest.

David. S. Turk, historian in the U.S. Marshals Service public information office, confirmed Arechiga's role in the mission.

'He was known as a great administrator and he knew what he was doing,” recalled Turk, who is based in Arlington, Va. 'He always had a cool head about things.”

Arechiga's time in Cedar Rapids began shortly after the arrest.

In 1991, Arechiga was nearing the end of a career that also included assignments to Interpol in Paris and border intelligence in El Paso, Texas. Mandatory retirement from U.S. Marshals Service occurs by age 57.

Originally from Minneapolis, the only opening for his rank was in Cedar Rapids. He took the job as chief deputy at the Northern District of Iowa courthouse from 1991 to 2002, and then as a U.S. Marshal from 2002 to 2006.

At his Cedar Rapids home, a framed mug shot of Noriega signed by several of his deputies hangs on the wall of his office, along with other memorabilia from his career. Arechiga specifically asked they didn't have Noriega sign it.

'I told them, don't get his signature on anything,” he said. 'I've always told my guys, ‘We are above these people. We will not lower ourselves to beg for an autograph of a person just because he is notorious.' ”

For Arechiga, news of Noriega's death spurred a reflection on his career and the passage of time since the arrest.

'I've lived through his entire sentence,” Arechiga said. 'I remember what a defiant character he was. To see a man so bombastic and full of life die is a reminder all of us are getting old: both the good guys and bad guys.”

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