Manuel Noriega ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989

Former Panama dictator Manuel Noriega has died at the age of 83 following brain surgery this year, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela wrote on Twitter late on Monday.

Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, spied for the Central Intelligence Agency until the United States invaded and toppled his corrupt government, ending a criminal career that saw him working with drug traffickers like Pablo Escobar.

Noriega was initially sentenced in the United States in 1992 but was serving a sentence for murder in Panama when he died.