Noriega Recalls Diplomats From U.S. : Reacts to Drug Indictments by Ordering Probe of His Accusers

Reacting to drug charges lodged against him last week in the United States, Panama’s military ruler, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, took steps Sunday to distance his government from Washington and to squeeze his opponents at home.

He recalled his three top U.S.-based Panamanian diplomats, including his ambassador to Washington, and ordered Panamanian military students in the United States to return home. Noriega also called for a criminal probe of Panamanians who accused him of drug smuggling. In addition, police shut down an opposition newspaper that in recent days had roundly criticized the military strongman.

The flurry of activity followed the return of two federal indictments in Florida last week that charged Noriega with drug trafficking and money laundering. The Panamanian government warned Friday that “unforeseen reactions” might result from the charges.

Taken as a whole, the diplomatic and domestic moves suggested that Noriega is preparing to fight hard to retain his hold on power and that relations between the United States and this strategically situated tropical nation will deteriorate further while the battle wages.

Holding On to Power

For eight months, Noriega has been resisting calls from opponents here and abroad for him to step down. Washington has cut off both military and economic aid to this country while pressing the Defense Forces, Panama’s sole military and police organization, to give up its political power, permit free elections and return the country to effective civilian rule.

Noriega recalled Juan Sosa, the Panamanian ambassador to Washington, as well as Roberto Leyton, Panama’s envoy to the Organization of American States in Washington, and Jorge Ritter, the country’s ambassador to the United Nations. It was not immediately clear how long Noriega would keep them from their posts; government radio reports said Sunday they were ordered back to Panama for “consultations.”

Diplomatic observers here suspected that Noriega will instruct the OAS and U.N. ambassadors to defend him publicly in the forums of those international organizations.

“It looks like the whole government will be mobilized in his defense,” one Latin American diplomat said.

U.S. Embassy officials here said they were not told directly about the recalls and had only read about them in government newspapers.

The withdrawal of military students from the United States was mainly symbolic. Defense Department sources in Washington said that about 40 officers of the Defense Forces are usually in the United States at a given time attending officer candidate schools or receiving advanced training at the Inter-American Defense College.

“This is a slight escalation of tension,” said one U.S. official.

In a letter published in the government-owned newspaper La Republica, Noriega ordered Panama’s attorney general to find out who is responsible for accusations made against him in the United States and to bring them to trial. Panamanian observers speculated that the probe would first target former Noriega associate Jose I. Blandon, who testified to a Miami grand jury last month.

In his letter, Noriega said that U.S. Justice Department prosecutors have “made public an indictment against me for false crimes,” and he ordered that those responsible for the “slanderous imputations” be brought to justice.

No Comment

Neither Noriega nor the attorney general, Carlos Villalaz, could be reached here for comment Sunday. Notably absent from any mention in the letter was President Eric A. Delvalle, the country’s nominal civilian chief of state. Under Panamanian law, it would be Delvalle who would ordinarily request the attorney general to conduct an investigation.

Sunday morning, plainclothes police stormed and occupied the opposition newspaper El Siglo, witnesses said. It was the second closure of a news outlet in a week. On Friday, Radio Continente was shut down after broadcasting an account of the indictments from Washington.

Police surrounded the offices of El Siglo in Puente Paitilla, a well-to-do waterfront district of Panama City, early Sunday, according to eyewitnesses. It was not clear whether anyone at the newspaper was present when the police arrived. A hole broken through a wire mesh door suggested forced entry.

Soldiers posted at the offices later in the day declined to answer questions about the incident.

“When the government feels weak, it begins to act like this,” said Mayin Correa, an editor at El Siglo and a commentator on Radio Continente.

Other opposition newspapers were operating normally Sunday. All anti-government newspapers and several radio stations were closed from June of last year until mid-January as the government cracked down on reporting that was critical of Noriega. The government permitted them to reopen under the restrictions of a new press law that inhibits dissemination of news attacking the government.

In addition, Noriega has taken the first steps to defend himself in the United States. He hired three Miami lawyers to defend him in U.S. courts and in any forthcoming hearings in the U.S. Congress.

A press release from one of the attorneys, Frank A. Rubino, said that the people of Panama are “shocked and outraged that the United States government would resort to the use of wholly untrue criminal indictments to achieve their political goals.” The statement added that the U.S. government is using “indictment diplomacy” against Noriega.

Meanwhile, the newspaper La Estrella reported that Noriega made a political appearance late Friday night in Panama City to give his version of the controversy.

He told the crowd of supporters at the Rey Kung Chinese restaurant that the U.S. government had invented the indictments to put pressure on Panama to allow U.S. troops stationed at the Panama Canal to remain in this country indefinitely. Under a treaty, the United States must hand full responsibility for defense of the canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, and withdraw all of its forces.

10,000 Troops

The United States currently maintains about 10,000 troops here at several bases that it uses under agreements with the Panamanian government. One such base, at Quarry Heights overlooking the canal, houses the U.S. Southern Command, headquarters for all American military activities in Latin America.

“The attacks on Panama are owed to the fact that there is a Southern Command, a canal, and a strategic position that the United States must abandon in the year 2000,” Noriega told members of the military-supported Revolutionary Democratic Party.

In an interview with CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday, Noriega said that then-U.S. National Security Adviser John C. Poindexter visited him Dec. 17, 1986, and told him that the United States planned to invade Nicaragua, where Washington supports the anti-Sandinista Contras.

Noriega said that Poindexter, requesting a “beachhead” against Nicaragua, told him the United States wanted to train Contras at bases in Panama and asked the general for Panama’s cooperation in the invasion.

Noriega said he refused and Poindexter then warned him to “await the consequences.”