U.S. Officials in Panama Get Orders to Shun Noriega

Now that Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, Panama’s military strongman, has been indicted on drug-trafficking charges, the U.S. ambassador and the commander of American military forces in Panama have been issued an unusual order: Avoid him at all costs.

The instructions, which amount to a kind of official ostracism and which may lead to awkward moments at diplomatic receptions, illustrate the paradox at the center of U.S. relations with Panama: The Reagan Administration wants to maintain good relations with Panama’s military officers even as it pursues their leader as a common criminal.

“The federal indictments . . . are the result of a legal process aimed at the named individuals, not the Panamanian government or the country’s military institution,” State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said. “We do not seek to attack the government of Panama or to denigrate the institution of the Panama Defense Forces.”

Political Goal

Oakley said that the Reagan Administration’s political goal in Panama remains to see the military “step back from its political role and allow the strengthening of Panama’s civilian political institutions.”

“We hope to be able to go on and deal with the Panamanian government and military as before,” another State Department official said. “It’s really a question of how they react to the situation, and whether they agree to continue dealing with us.”

Both Arthur Davis, U.S. ambassador to Panama, and Lt. Gen. Frederick F. Woerner Jr., commander of the U.S. Southern Command, have already been keeping their distance from Noriega. Woerner, who took up his post as commander of all U.S. military forces in Latin America last June, has never paid the obligatory courtesy call on the Panamanian commander, although the two generals have run into each other at scheduled U.S.-Panamanian conferences and military ceremonies outside Panama.

Infrequent Contacts

“Our contacts have been most infrequent and extraordinarily formal, in which there has been an exchange of perceptions and interpretations of what is taking place,” Woerner told reporters Friday. He said that he had seen Noriega perhaps once every two months since his arrival in Panama last June.

Now, however, both Woerner and Davis are under instructions to avoid even attending a party if they know Noriega is going to be present, a State Department official said.

The idea, he said, is to make it clear that the indictments are a serious legal matter--and that the United States believes it no longer can deal with Noriega in any fashion.

Asked whether refusing to meet with Noriega might hamper the Administration’s efforts to urge him to step down, the official laughed and said: “He’s heard our opinion from just about every level. He won’t be missing much.”

Routine Contacts Unaffected

The orders to shun Noriega are not expected to hamper everyday U.S.-Panamanian dealings over the Panama Canal or other issues, officials said. The 1977 treaty under which the United States returned the canal to Panama gives the U.S. responsibility for defending the strategic waterway until the end of 1999 and requires close collaboration between the United States and Panamanian armed forces. But those contacts are carried on routinely at the level of relatively junior officers.

“There’s no problem there unless Noriega wants to make one,” an official said.

It could not be learned whether the instructions extend to the CIA, which has dealt closely with Noriega in the past.