GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

Manuel Noriega spent the holiday season in a Miami prison awaiting trial for drug trafficking, but he didn't forget old friends and supporters back in Panama. The ousted dictator mailed out a Christmas card bearing a cryptic poem: "God is who makes the time/ the sole owner of eternity. Because He/ knows it all/ and knows/ how and/ when . . .! This is my thought/ of meditation/ and from the depth/ I give you today in/ Christmas." Could the former strongman be contemplating an insanity defense?

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart