Panama Suspends Rights, Jails Scores to Quell Unrest

The government suspended civil liberties under a nationwide state of emergency and arrested scores of dissidents Thursday to quell Panama’s most serious political unrest in 19 years of military domination.

The crackdown brought a tense calm to Panama City after two days of violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators but failed to break an anti-government general strike. Two strike leaders were arrested and later freed.

The 10,000 U.S. military personnel in Panama were placed on a higher level of alert, Pentagon officials said, and the State Department said a U.S. consular officer from the city of Colon was injured slightly in protests here.

The protests erupted Tuesday, triggered by charges that Brig. Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, commander of the Panama Defense Forces, was involved in the death of his predecessor, ordered the murder of an opposition leader and helped rig the 1984 presidential election.

The allegations by Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera, the just-retired military chief of staff, are not new. But this was the first time they were made by someone within Panama’s Defense Forces, and they brought together a sudden movement of businessmen, politicians, Roman Catholic priests, labor leaders, students and housewives.

As church bells pealed, thousands of Panamanians beat pots and pans, honked car horns and set up burning barricades over wide areas of Panama City and Colon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Riot police responded with bird shot, tear gas and baton charges that left dozens injured. One demonstrator was reported killed after being hit by a police vehicle.

One of the most dramatic scenes occurred on television, when 20 policemen entered the Channel 13 studios Wednesday and beat employees and reporters with rubber hoses. The station aired a film of the raid.

Climate of Protest

On Thursday, an indefinite strike call by a newly formed Civic Crusade of 35 business and professional guilds appeared to be working. The climate of protest and violence kept most offices, business and shops in the capital closed, and public transportation was scarce. Few people ventured downtown.

“I was never an opposition person, but the way the government is reacting is atrocious,” said a young U.S.-educated businessman who took part in the demonstrations. “This is no longer a political problem. It has to do whether we live in a free society.”

The emergency decree, signed by civilian President Eric A. Delvalle, suspended seven articles of the constitution, including those guaranteeing freedom of expression and assembly and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Police raided the Chamber of Commerce headquarters and arrested its president, Aurelio Barria, and its treasurer, Roberto Henriquez, two witnesses said. They were released hours later.

Leaders in Hiding

Other strike leaders went into hiding, among them Ricardo Arias Calderon, a leading Christian Democrat. He interrupted a breakfast interview at his home and scaled a backyard wall after police came to the front walk.

Maylin Correa, a prominent opposition senator and radio commentator, took refuge in the Argentine Embassy, the government reported. All independent news programming on radio and television was suspended.

Jose Hernandez, a spokesman for Delvalle, announced at 2 a.m. local time that the Cabinet had approved the emergency decree to stop demonstrations by “people and political groups interested in taking power.”

By dawn, hundreds of soldiers carrying automatic weapons and wearing black grease paint on their faces were patrolling downtown Panama City while military helicopters circled overhead.

While Wednesday’s demonstrations lasted all day, the soldiers’ presence Thursday discouraged all but a brief noon-hour protest by hundreds of horn-honking motorists and pot-banging dissidents.

Motorists Stopped

Reporters touring the city saw soldiers pull over scores of motorists. One group of 30 was forced to park at a downtown gasoline station and held at gunpoint in a nearby vacant lot.

Opposition leaders called for the strike to continue until Diaz’s charges are clarified and guilty officials are removed. But they worried that repression might undermine their movement.

“The government has many ways to pressure the store owners to reopen,” said Eduardo Vallarino, president of the National Caucus of Private Enterprise. “The military cannot be above the constitution, like they have been for 19 years. But if we don’t stop them now, this could be our last chance.”

Noriega said in a speech Wednesday night that the government “will be very sensible” in dealing with the demonstrations because “they want dead (and) we are not going to give them dead.”

The armed forces have not faced such a challenge since Gen. Omar Torrijos, their commander, seized power in a 1968 coup. After Torrijos’ death in a 1981 plane crash, Noriega quickly deposed two military rivals to achieve power behind a succession of civilian presidents.

Colonel’s Allegations

In remarks to reporters last weekend, Col. Diaz said that Noriega conspired with others to plant a bomb on Torrijos’ aircraft. He also said that he had helped the general rig the 1984 election to steal victory from an opposition candidate and that Noriega ordered the 1985 murder of Hugo Spadafora, a leading critic, whose decapitated body was found just across the border in Costa Rica.

Noriega has denied all the charges. A military spokesman, Maj. Edgardo Lopez, said Diaz was suffering from “a serious state of paranoia” and had been retired last week for health reasons. Diaz said he was forced out.

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Panama, Marcos G. McGrath, moved to protect Diaz from harm by sending several priests to the colonel’s two-story mansion.

“We are here to protect the life of a valiant man,” said Father James Claffey, an American priest from Philadelphia. “I am not trying to canonize him, but I think his motives are sincere. He is very tired, but there’s nothing crazy about him.”

Weapons Surrendered

Under an agreement with the church, Diaz turned over to a priest early Thursday five automatic rifles and four automatic pistols kept in his house. Then, in a dawn religious service with 60 supporters at the mansion, he prayed for divine absolution.

The archbishop was negotiating Thursday with the military to move Diaz from the mansion to a church property or a foreign embassy to give him greater security while his charges are investigated. Several church sources said that U.S. Ambassador Arthur Davis was also seeking protection for the colonel.

The U.S. Embassy did not comment on Davis’ role. But in Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said the United States “strongly supports the efforts to get out all the facts” behind Diaz’ allegations.

Asserting that “freedom of expression is key if Panamanians are to resolve their political problems,” she added that Washington hopes the state of emergency “will be short-lived.”

The State Department warned Americans to avoid “non-essential travel” to Panama after three U.S. citizens, including the consular agent in Colon and his wife, were reported injured in the demonstrations.

The Pentagon directed its thousands of troops and their dependents in Panama not to drive private vehicles beyond the boundaries of U.S. installations unless they live outside those areas, are traveling on official business or are commuting to or from an assigned duty station.