General Manuel Noriega ran Panama during the 1980s. He was the country’s de facto military ruler from 1983 until 1989, although he never officially served as Panama’s president.
Noriega rose through the Panamanian military under Omar Torrijos and became chief of military intelligence. After Torrijos died in 1981, Noriega consolidated power. In 1983, he became commander of the Panama Defense Forces and ruled through a series of civilian presidents who had limited independence from the military leadership.
His government maintained a complicated relationship with the United States. Noriega had worked with U.S. intelligence agencies for years, but relations deteriorated in the late 1980s amid accusations involving drug trafficking, political repression, electoral fraud, and the killing of critic Hugo Spadafora.
The crisis ended with the U.S. invasion of Panama in December 1989. Noriega surrendered in January 1990, was taken to the United States, and later faced convictions in several countries. The wording “ran Panama” is informal, but Panama is the clear canonical answer.