The United States had intended to release Mr. Noriega on parole in September 2007 after reducing his sentence by half for good behavior. But after a protracted extradition fight, he was sent to France in April 2010 for another trial on the money-laundering charges. Again he was convicted.

He was sentenced this time to seven years in prison in France, but he was eligible for parole much sooner than that. Panama requested his extradition, and after more legal tussling he was flown home in December 2011 to serve 20 years for the disappearances of political opponents in the 1980s.

Mr. Noriega is survived by his wife and three daughters, Lorena, Sandra and Thays Noriega.

While incarcerated in the United States, Mr. Noriega wrote “America’s Prisoner: The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega” (1997, with Peter Eisner). In the book, he expressed frustration over his captors. “No one can avoid the judgment of history,” he wrote. “I only ask to be judged on the same scale of treachery and infamy of my enemies.”

Yet in June 2015, in an interview in prison with Panamanian television, he was more conciliatory, leaving people, once again, to guess about the real Mr. Noriega.

“I want to close the cycle of the military era as the last commander of that group,” he said, “asking for forgiveness.”