Lit Night: Irish Writer Who Lived Inside a Dictator’s Regime

Cillian Dunne is an investigative writer focused on crime, intelligence, and power cycles. He recently spent several months in Panama living with the former dictator’s right-hand man, a triple agent trained by the CIA, Mossad, and Fidel Castro’s Cuba, and wrote a book about that experience titled The Right Hand Man. “Across all my work, I immerse myself in hidden worlds to tell stories that reveal how power operates in ways the public rarely sees.”

“The Right Hand Man,” is a nonfiction geopolitical thriller about Manuel Noriega’s rise and fall told through the eyes of his enforcer. I have also written Dreams in Incarceration, which documents the prison journey of a former South Central LA gang member, and Death by a Million Papercuts, which investigates decades of abuse at elite New England boarding schools.

From The Sunday Times: “Explosive letters detailing the high regard the CIA and other US agencies held for Manuel Noriega, the infamous Panamanian dictator and cocaine trafficker, have been unearthed by an Irish writer.

Cillian Dunne, from Dublin, secured the documents from among a secret cache of files while researching a book in the Central American country.

His work included interviewing former CIA assets and relatives of the brutal leader, who ultimately fell foul of US interests and was taken down in a dramatic invasion in 1989.

Dunne’s investigations followed an invitation to meet the man who was key to Noriega’s rise to the top and crucial to maintaining his grip on power.

Via documents and recollections, Carlos Wittgreen, who has since died, offered unprecedented access to the inner workings of a regime that had an impact on global drug trafficking and US policy.”

About the Book: https://www.therighthandmanbook.com/

About the Author

Cillian Dunne is an Irish-American author focused on crime, intelligence, and political power. He has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Sunday World, The Boston Globe, and The Irish Sun. His previous nonfiction book Dreams in Incarceration has been taught in criminal justice classrooms at San Francisco State University.

For The Right Hand Man, Dunne lived in Panama with Noriega’s right-hand man, and interviewing Noriega’s family, former intelligence officers, and CIA contacts, documenting a hidden Cold War history through firsthand testimony and original government files.

The story has been featured in dozens of media publications, including The Sunday Times UK and Ireland and on the Danny Jones and Inside True Crime podcasts, reaching millions and placing The Right Hand Man among the top new releases in its categories.

More:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMY4oxw6ijo&authuser=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxPVyau-R8&authuser=0