Banks Reopen in Panama as Anti-Government Protests Wane

The country’s banking system, a pillar of Panama’s economy, reopened Monday amid dwindling support for a work stoppage to protest the country’s military leadership.

The decision by the private Banking Assn. was a setback for the National Civic Crusade, an alliance of 35 business, professional and student groups seeking the ouster of military strongman Brig. Gen. Manuel A. Noriega.

The association, representing 130 institutions with $39 billion in deposits, said in a written statement that the need to maintain Panama as a world financial center “requires continuity of our services to national and foreign clients.”

Several bankers said privately that two Cabinet officials, in a meeting with them Saturday, threatened to impose fines and mandatory unionization of their employees if banks failed to resume operations. In addition, they said, foreign bankers were threatened with cancellation of their residence visas.

Most businesses shut down during street disorders that erupted last Tuesday. Nearly all banks closed Thursday and Friday to protest raids on three downtown banks by police, who arrested clerks joining in the demonstrations.

Noriega withdrew hundreds of combat troops from the capital’s streets Monday in an apparent effort to ease the most widespread unrest here in 19 years of military domination. Riot police remained on patrol but, under an agreement with the bankers, stayed out of the financial district.

Scattered protests persisted elsewhere. Police clubbed a prominent law professor and arrested several other demonstrators who waved white handkerchiefs, banged pots and honked car horns to demand Noriega’s ouster.

But for the first time since the civil disobedience campaign began last week, most stores opened and the streets were filled with traffic.

The National Civic Crusade had urged Panamanians to go to work Monday only to collect their bimonthly paychecks and then to continue the work stoppage.

The call drew a mixed response. McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets stayed closed, as did several large factories, law offices and construction projects. The Panamanian subsidiary of 3M opened but made no deliveries. And while most shops opened, some had no salespeople. The government kept schools closed for a second week.

Back Strike

The crusade and five opposition political parties, at a press conference late Monday, announced their continued support for the general strike but said it would be reevaluated each day.

“Today’s round did not go well,” admitted Aurelio Barria, a leader of the crusade. “We are up against a government that is using coercion against businessmen. This is a nonviolent movement. We cannot force anyone to stay closed.”

The protests erupted after longstanding allegations of political murder, drug trafficking and electoral fraud against Noriega were repeated publicly for the first time by a high-ranking military official, retired Chief of Staff Col. Roberto Diaz Herrera.

Noriega denied the charges and refused to resign. The civilian government he controls decreed a state of emergency that censored the press and suspended most civil liberties. At least two protesters have been killed, scores injured and hundreds arrested in the disorders.

Opposition leaders said the violence would have to get a lot worse to shake Noriega’s immediate support within the 20,000-man Panama Defense Forces, which he has commanded since 1983.

They said Noriega’s position could weaken in the long term if the disorders affect Panama’s image as a safe haven for depositors and investors. Long lines of customers formed outside banks Monday, but bankers said it was too early to tell how much, if anything, was lost in deposits.