Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : U.S. Tells Payments to Panama Witness

Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler in Miami that the U.S. government gave $170,000 and immunity for hundreds of drug deals to a key witness against two of Manuel Noriega’s co-defendants. The co-defendants, Brian Davidow and William Saldarriaga, are charged with conspiracy in a 1986 cocaine shipment allegedly protected by the Panamanian dictator. Noriega faces trial in June on charges he accepted $4.6 million in protection money from Colombian cocaine barons. The witness, Ramon Navarro, allegedly attended meetings in Panama between the defendants and engaged in drug deals with them.