March 30, 2011 – April 24, 2011 Devil’s Advocate by Donald Freed | Directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela | Produced by The Latino Theater Company   Devil’s Advocate is the story of the capture and breaking of the Panamanian strong man Manuel Noriega by the Vatican’s “Devil’s Advocate” Archbishop Jose Sebastian Laboa. Their titanic struggle to the end of the night is based on an astonishing true story. $35 General | $20 Students/Seniors Only $10 on Thursdays! Only $20 for Previews! Thursday, Friday, Saturday @ 8 p.m. Sunday @ 2 p.m. LATC – Theater 2 Wednesday, March 30  PREVIEW NIGHT Thursday, March 31 PREVIEW NIGHT Friday, April 1  OPENING NIGHT Sunday, April 24  CLOSING NIGHT         Presented by the Latino Theater Company and the California International Theatre Festival This production is made possible with support from James Irvine Foundation and the California International Theatre Festival.

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BACKGROUND STORY | CIA, WAR CRIMES, COCAINE, LATIN AMERICA

“Noriega was our man in Panama; for years the CIA had considered him as one of their very own secret agents. So even if Noriega wasn’t a particulary nice man, he was our man.” – The Harvard Crimson

“The invasion of Panama, what was that? The U.S. killed, according to the Panamanians, 3,000 civilians. Maybe they’re right. We don’t investigate our own crimes, so nobody knows. But it certainly killed plenty of people–on the scale of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, roughly the same casualties. The U.S. used its veto power on the Security Council and voted against the condemnation in the General Assembly. Manuel Noriega was illegally brought back to Florida, tried in a ridiculous trial in which he was convicted of crimes which he had indeed committed, almost all of them when he was on the CIA payroll. It was just like the trial of Saddam Hussein will be, if he ever comes to trial: He will be convicted of crimes that the U.S. supported, but that part won’t be mentioned.” – Noam Chomsky

“Operation Just Cause” was the invasion of Panama and “Operation Iraqi Freedom” in the present instance” – Howard Zinn