‘Yanquis’ Denounced : Noriega Taps Support at Grass Roots

To the left of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega sat a stout, middle-aged woman in a diamond necklace who shouted, “To the execution wall, to the execution wall!” every time someone mentioned a supposed enemy of Panama’s military strongman.

To his right, a young boy read a poem about how the Americans must be expelled from the Panama Canal. Out front, a crowd drank beer and encouraged Noriega to “hit the Yanquis hard.”

On the walls around him, banners pledged loyalty. One promised that people in this rural region would form a tribunal to judge Ronald Reagan for unspecified crimes.

Plainclothes bodyguards kept watch at Noriega’s back.

It was a rare night for Noriega, the de facto ruler of Panama. For the better part of eight months, he has been under fire from opponents at home and abroad. They have accused him of everything from murder to using the Panama Defense Forces that he commands as a drug-smuggling base. Critics are insisting that he must step down.

No Calls to Quit

But no such discouraging words were heard last week at this rally in central Panama’s sugar country--no calls for him to leave power, no drug and corruption charges, no jokes about his acne-scarred face.

People brought Noriega their problems for him to solve, sometimes in handwritten notes. Here his authority was unchallenged.

Most of the men in the audience belong to peasant, labor and bureaucratic unions tied to the government. Many had been bussed in by government transport.

No matter. Noriega was at home amid a rare display of civilian support. He was dressed in a beige leisure suit and a peasant-style straw hat. A smile frequently slid across his face.

The rally in Santiago de Veraguas was the kickoff for a weeklong series of appearances by Noriega around this small tropical country. It was apparent that he was trying to widen his support beyond just the guns of Panama’s 10,000-strong military.

Noriega talked tough and harped on familiar patriotic themes: The Americans are trying to take back the Panama Canal; traitorous Panamanians are trying to give it back; Latin American history is at stake. He wrapped himself snugly in the stars and rectangles of the Panamanian flag and in the frustrated causes of Latin America.

There was not a whisper of a long string of charges aired against him in Panama and Washington.

“The power from the north is looking for weak, soft men, for weak, soft governments,” Noriega told his 3,000 listeners. “But we are not going back, not one step back!”

The crowd repeated: “Not a step back, not a step back.”

“The accusations against Gen. Noriega are worth nothing,” said Adile Fernandez, a local politician. “It doesn’t make any difference what is said about him.”

The site for the rally was chosen carefully. Santiago is the birthplace of Gen. Omar Torrijos, the Panamanian leader who died in a 1981 air crash. In 1977, Torrijos and President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty that placed the Panama Canal under Panamanian sovereignty. Noriega claims to be the heir to Torrijos’ mantle.

Torrijos was a classic beneficent dictator, disciplining his troops and promoting social welfare.

He also forged an alliance between the military and civilian political groups that Noriega is now trying to tap for support. The Democratic Revolutionary Party created by Torrijos is nominally in power and was responsible for organizing Noriega’s rallies.

At the gathering here, Noriega charged that the United States had treated Torrijos the way he is being treated these days.

“It was once Torrijos who wore the bull’s-eye on his back,” Noriega said.

It was difficult to gauge the depth of the crowd’s devotion to Noriega. Even here, one could find resistance to all-out backing for the general. No one seemed prepared to embrace Noriega in the way many once embraced Torrijos.

“Noriega doesn’t have the great charisma that Torrijos had,” said Luis Batista, the head of Santiago de Veraguas’ town council. “Perhaps Noriega should step down to allow for a dialogue with the opposition.”

Batista’s remarks were significant in that he belongs to the Democratic Revolutionary Party in a town that, according to his own account, has backed previous military-linked candidates by votes of 2 to 1. Nonetheless, Batista attended the Noriega rally.

“We think Noriega has followed Torrijos’ nationalist line,” he explained.

For the time being, nationalism appears to be Noriega’s main shield against his enemies.

Dan Williams, The Times’ bureau chief in Mexico City, was recently on assignment in Panama.