It’s difficult to overstate how often the phrase “land of opportunity” gets bandied about in regards to the USA. It’s true that the states make up a huge land area, and with almost 350 million people in that land area, there are bound to be stories of all kinds (after all, that’s kind of what we do here at AIW).
But there is only one story in the USA’s eclectic history that involves an elementary school student becoming friends with a fearsome drug lord turned dictator in central America.
This is that story.
Manuel Noriega is best known for his work as the ruler of Panama from 1983-1989. An attempt to summarize him begins here:
Noriega got into intelligence services in the Panamanian military around age 20, which he apparently had a knack for. He became an informant for the USA by the 1970s while also getting himself involved in various cartels, including that of drug-lord-of-legend Pablo Escobar. By the close of the decade he was handsomely paid by the CIA. However, he was simultaneously moving up Panama’s military intelligence ladder. If that sounds like a conflict of interest, you’re onto something.
Noriega became something of a right-hand man to Panama’s not-quite-leader Omar Torrijos, but then Torrijos died in 1981 under moderately suspicious circumstances. Two years later, Noriega emerged as the “Commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces,” which was kind of like becoming the puppeteer for all of Panama. He also had a knack for killing his opponents and acting solely in his own best interests.
Reliable reports came out in 1986 that Noriega tortured and murdered his main political opponent and he was selling U.S. secrets to intelligence agencies in Europe. At this point the U.S. decided to stop economic and military aid to Panama, though you’re welcome to speculate which of those reports mattered more to the ol’ US of A.
In 1989, things got bad enough that the United States tried to take him out. The USA backed an attempted coup in October of that year but it didn’t work (more on that later), so President Bush (the first one) launched an invasion with 20,000 troops, ultimately capturing Noriega in January of 1990. He was charged with a bunch of crimes in several countries, ultimately dying in custody in 2017.
So where does an American child fit into all this? You’d think nowhere, but you’d be wrong.
In 1988, a girl named Sarah York, from Negaunee, Michigan (home of the only “full-length natural-track luge course” in the United States, whatever that means) decided to write Noriega a letter. According to Sarah’s parents, they were watching Noriega on 60 Minutes when Mitchell, her father, was drawn to the dictator’s hat. Pauline, her mother, knew that Mitchell would want a hat like that, so she suggested writing to Noriega and asking for a hat. They decided that it’d be more likely to get through if a child wrote to him. So Sarah wrote to him, and apparently our man in Panama was delighted.
Noriega was so delighted, and their correspondence grew so much, that he invited her and her family to come visit him in Panama in October of 1988. They accepted.
The trip was documented in great detail by the Panamanian government, where modern claims say she was the leading story on the news almost every night. The mayor of Panama City even gave her a key to the city, which makes PERFECT sense when you consider the only other American to receive such an honor was President Carter.
Sarah and her mom visited from October 5-11th that year with a military guard as their escort. They toured the country high and low, seeing all there was to see, which included periodic visits with the dictator. Apparently, they had such a nice time that, despite the mixed response from the American public, her father decided that they should go back AGAIN the next October and that this time he should get to visit.
So in October of 1989 two of the Yorks went back to Panama. Earlier that year, Noriega’s hand-picked president had lost an election by a roughly 3:1 margin, but Noriega invalidated the results because of reasons. The Yorks visited from October 8-17th. On October 3rd, a coup attempt took place and Noriega was briefly detained by rebels, but he was able to sneak a phone call to his people and the conspirators were captured and executed on the fourth. It was a nice family trip for Sarah and her dad.
Ultimately, the family defended Noriega in public pretty regularly. He treated them well, he showed them kindness, and his letters to Sarah were always well-written and thoughtful. Oftentimes they were pushing the message of peace and harmony, despite everything that was going on around him – almost all of which was of his own accord.
After Noriega entered federal custody in Miami the correspondence slowed down. Sarah was on This American Life in 2003 where she recounted that she wanted to make him feel better and tell him that they still supported him despite his being imprisoned for charges that either actively featured or would soon feature drug trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, murder, and more, but kids generally lose interest in pen pals by the time they reach their teen years, and what do you even say to a dictator who has been convicted of war crimes? It was… pretty weird.
In the end, the relationship fizzled and by the time of the 2003 interview Sarah had moved completely off the grid in Wisconsin, which – I’m not making this up – she does not see as being related to the intense media scrutiny she faced as a 10-12-year-old girl.
Lastly, this also served as the clear inspiration for the poorly reviewed 2016 film Dear Dictator, which starred Michael Caine.