By Andrew Beatty PANAMA CITY, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Almost two decades after Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was imprisoned in the United States, the country he ran as his personal drug fiefdom is a booming financial center and tourist magnet seeking to forget its darker past. Noriega, arrested by U.S. troops after the 1989 invasion of Panama, is due to be released from a Miami prison on Sept. 9, but most Panamanians want him jailed again, in either his homeland or France, where he is wanted for money laundering. Business leaders worry that having the former leader and ex-CIA informant back home would clash with Panama's image as a safe haven of flashy skyscrapers, Caribbean beaches and jungle-cloaked mountains. Panama's government wants Noriega sent home to carry out a 20-year sentence for abuses during his 1983-89 rule and hopes memories of him will fade. "Noriega's name is part of history," Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro told Reuters. "I think if you check out this country, you will find it is looking forward to a positive future," he said. Although he still has supporters among Panama's many poor, Noriega, 72, might struggle to recognize his country, which struggled under U.S. economic sanctions before the invasion that ousted him and killed up to 3,000 people. Panama now boasts 9 percent annual economic growth, a $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is underway and investors are vying to turn it into a regional energy center. A recent opinion survey by Dichter and Neira pollsters showed 47 percent of Panamanians think Noriega -- whom opponents dubbed "Pineapple Face" for his bad skin -- should carry out his sentence in Panama once he is freed in Miami. Forty-four percent do not want him in Panama at all. "Why bring him back when everything is going so well?" asked Sam Taliaferro, an American property developer well known in Panama. If he did come home, Noriega would spend his sentence under house arrest because he is older than 70. A U.S. district judge will decide on Aug. 24 whether to extradite Noriega to France, where he faces up to 10 years in prison. ALLY TO FOE Noriega helped the Americans to arm and train anti-communists in Central America in the 1980s, but he fell foul of Washington when he allowed Colombian gangs to use Panama as a drug smuggling and money laundering center. Noriega, who took power as a general in 1983 but was never president, also destroyed Panama's emerging democracy and tortured and beheaded opponents. President Martin Torrijos, who was elected in 2004, has been praised for his austere fiscal management and tax reform, which have helped Panama enjoy its best growth in decades and attract international bondholders. But some political analysts and many poor Panamanians say the real reason few people want Noriega back is because it would expose the country's poverty and huge inequalities, as well as a weak and corrupt justice system unable to give him a fair trial. About 40 percent of Panama's 3 million people still live in poverty, as they did when Noriega ruled, with 25 percent surviving on around $50 a month. The poorest Panamanians remember Noriega, who was born poor, as someone who challenged the European-descended elite and their fabulous wealth. "There are people who want Noriega to come back and fix this country," said Andres Lee Lopez, a street seller whose stall is covered in pictures of Noriega. Torrijos' father, military strongman Omar Torrijos who ruled from 1968-81, helped promote Noriega to the top of the country's armed forces. Noriega cronies are even back in government under Torrijos. Public Works Minister Benjamin Colamarco used to run a paramilitary group that cracked down on those who dissented under Noriega.
