How Panama’s Dictator Manuel Noriega Found God in the Unlikeliest Place
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the late 1980s, Panama was at the center of global attention as strongman Manuel Noriega tightened his grip on power. Known for his brutality and ties to the drug trade, he seemed untouchable. But when a hairdresser unknowingly welcomed Noriega’s daughter into her chair, an unlikely chain of events began. That meeting opened the door to the dictator himself, leading to a story of faith that unfolded against the history of Operation Just Cause and the U.S. invasion of Panama. The late Joe Garman, founder of ARM Prison Ministries, tells the unforgettable story of how a dictator met God in the unlikeliest of places.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:14.2 | This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star |
| 0:20.1 | and the American people. Search for the Our American Stories podcasts the show where America is the star and the American people. |
| 0:22.2 | Search for The Our American Stories Podcasts. |
| 0:24.6 | Go to the IHeart Radio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.5 | Up next, a story from Joe Garman. |
| 0:32.9 | Joe is the founder of Armed Prison Ministries, one of the largest prison ministries in the world. While it's |
| 0:39.0 | fair to say that he's seen his fair share of prisoners over the years, one sticks out for pretty |
| 0:44.1 | obvious reasons. He was the infamous dictator of Panama. Let's get into the story. Here's Joe |
| 0:51.4 | with our own contributor, Katrina Hine. |
| 0:56.9 | When you go into the chapel, you don't know who this guy is in this pew or who that |
| 1:02.2 | guy is on the platform. So when you met Noriega the first time, you met him face to face, |
| 1:09.4 | right? Oh, yeah. Don't you remember when we invaded Panama? |
| 1:19.5 | Remember that? The goals of the United States have been to safeguard the lives of Americans, |
| 1:26.3 | to defend democracy in Panama, to combat drug |
| 1:31.2 | trafficking, and to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty. |
| 1:36.6 | They were broadcasting, trying to get him to come and surrender, |
| 1:44.6 | and playing loud music and all that. |
| 1:48.0 | So, you know, talking about why he was such a bad man... |
| 1:53.9 | Oh, he was a bad man. I'm telling you he was. |
| 2:03.6 | He killed people and, I mean, he was deep in the drugs. |
| 2:07.6 | He was a drug lord. |
... |
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