Reagan Rules Out Force in Panama : Solis Is Named Leader; Delvalle Appeals for Help

Panama awoke Friday to the voices of two politicians claiming to be president.

One, appointed in the early dawn, implored the United States to maintain normal relations with his country. The other, deposed just after midnight, called on the United States to suspend trade with Panama to help him return to office.

The man appointed as the country’s new president is Manuel Solis Palma, 70, who had been the minister of education. Solis accepted his appointment from a rump session of the Panamanian National Assembly, succeeding Eric A. Delvalle, who was dismissed by the same legislature.

Despite the almost comic-opera aspects of the crisis swirling around the question of who holds Panama’s top political office, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega remains the real power. Delvalle’s attempt Thursday to oust Noriega brought about his own downfall and the appointment of Solis, who is considered to be an adviser and confidant of Noriega.

Noriega Leads March

The military strongman kept a low profile Friday, appearing only once in public to lead a short march from military headquarters to the presidential palace in the old, colonial district of Panama City. Dressed in battle fatigues, smiling and waving, he was surrounded by his officers and hundreds of supporters in the noisy procession “to greet the new president.”

It was all a ragged end to a failed attempt to remove Noriega from his post as Panama’s Defense Forces chief.

Neither eight months of home-grown protests and severe economic problems nor diplomatic and legal pressure from the United States has been enough to dislodge the general.

Noriega recently was charged by two federal grand juries in Florida with drug smuggling, money laundering and racketeering.

Panama City, the capital and home to half of the country’s 2.5 million citizens, took Friday’s political turmoil in stride. Businesses were open and traffic moved at its usual hectic pace, although the government moved to selectively shut off key sources of public dissent, including the leading opposition newspaper.

In his inaugural address, Solis took care to pledge his loyalty to the Defense Forces.

“We energetically affirm the leading role that belongs to our military institution in the defense of our sovereignty,” he told legislators gathered at the National Assembly hall here. “We reaffirm our decision to maintain the unity between the defense forces, the people and the government.”

Solis also seemed concerned about Washington’s potential reaction to his taking office. The Reagan Administration considers Delvalle’s ouster invalid and is pressing for Noriega to step down.

Reassures Foreigners

Solis promised that foreigners and foreign businesses in Panama will be respected, including businesses of “Americans of good will.”

“We ask the government of the United States to maintain commercial and diplomatic relations with Panama,” he said.

The effort by Delvalle to dismiss Noriega was “the product of international pressure,” Solis asserted. He added that recent popular opposition to Noriega inside Panama resulted from the “plans conceived by the U.S. State Department.”

Solis’ rise to the presidency is the latest twist in his long, uneven political career. He has served three Panamanian presidents in education posts and gained a reputation for reform and anti-militarism. In 1969, he was exiled by Gen. Omar Torrijos, who then headed the military-led government. Solis returned nine years later and apparently intends to serve as president now, during the country’s period of tightest military control.

Solis was appointed president by the National Assembly, although there was some question as to whether enough deputies attended the all-night session to make up a quorum. A roll of 28 names was called and answered. The sergeant-at-arms said another six names were illegible and he could not read them out. There are 64 members in the full Assembly.

Because Solis was not a vice president being elevated to president, he was given the title of minister in charge of the presidency, with all the powers of president.

In any event, political observers here said that the real key is the backing he receives from Noriega. “Here, it is one man, one vote, and that vote is Noriega’s,” a Latin American diplomat said.

In any event, Delvalle greeted friends and reporters at his ranch-style home near Panama City’s financial district as if he were still in office. A blockade by soldiers that kept reporters away overnight was lifted at 4 o’clock in the morning.

Nothing has given luster to Delvalle’s truncated term of office as much as its ending: He was receiving attention and speaking out in ways that were unimaginable only 24 hours earlier, when he was widely considered to be Noriega’s puppet.

“I consider myself to be the president of Panama,” he told reporters. Panamanians could hear and see Delvalle on cable television until the service suddenly was cut off without explanation Friday afternoon.

In contrast to his successor, Delvalle appealed to the United States and other countries to help his cause. “The United States should impose a trade embargo on Panama,” he said. “I am waiting for the democratic nations of the world to express themselves in support of the constitutional government of Panama.”

Delvalle stopped short of urging an armed invasion of Panama. Such a foreign invasion is a subject of much speculation here.

“There is no reason for armed attack,” Delvalle said. “Despite everything that has happened, Panama is still in peace.”

Delvalle described his ouster as a “comedy” and said he expects Panamanians to rise in his defense. “People are tired and want to get rid of the military influence in government,” he said.

Delvalle met Monday afternoon with Noriega to ask that the general voluntarily resign and await the results of an investigation of criminal charges against him.

“I honestly believed he had enough common sense to understand this was his best option,” Delvalle said.

He Grew Impatient

But considering the real possibilities of his ousting a powerful figure like Noriega, Delvalle shrugged and said: “Of course, to be frank, no Panamanian president has been able to fire a general.” By Wednesday night, Delvalle grew impatient; Noriega had not called him back with a response. The president then secretly videotaped a speech dismissing Noriega. On Thursday morning, he called the general and asked if he had reached a decision. Noriega demurred.

“Gen. Noriega is the kind of person who likes to put things off. He thinks he will find a lottery ticket on the street and everything will be all right,” Delvalle quipped.

Thursday afternoon, Delvalle tried to fire Noriega and was himself removed from office.

Delvalle confessed that Panama’s economic woes, in part brought on by a cutoff of most U.S. aid, prompted him to try to retire Noriega.

“I was not going to preside over a government that was heading into economic ruin,” he said.

Although he would not give specific data, Delvalle predicted that the government of Panama will run out of money by the end of April.

Delvalle, an elected vice president, was put into the presidency by Noriega on Sept. 27, 1985, after a coup deposed President Nicolas Ardito Barletta. Noriega ousted Ardito Barletta when the latter moved to investigate assertions that the general had ordered the killing of a prominent opposition critic.

New presidential elections ending a turbulent, 5-year presidential period are scheduled for next year.

There were no reports of violence here Friday. Troops entered and closed La Prensa, the last of three opposition newspapers that had remained open. Two other daily papers were closed during the past three weeks.

Soldiers also surrounded the vacated building of the Panama Chamber of Commerce, headquarters of the self-styled Civic Crusade. The crusade has spearheaded opposition to Noriega since June.

Members of the crusade announced that they would try to organize a general strike next week to press for Noriega’s ouster.

“We have to show people there is total opposition to this government,” crusade leader Roberto Brenes said. Brenes explained that the crusade had planned to mount a strike in mid-March but decided to make it earlier, given the present political uncertainty.

Late Thursday, plainclothes officials barred opposition politician Ricardo Arias Calderon from entering the country on his return from a trip to Miami. Arias declined the request of the police to board a flight leaving for Costa Rica. Men identified as intelligence agents then carried him to the airplane and put him on board. He landed safely in San Jose, the Costa Rican capital, where he remains.

He told reporters in Costa Rica that “to live under a drug-political power is no game.”

Arias heads the Christian Democratic Party in Panama and is considered a possible presidential candidate. Opposition parties have set the departure of Noriega as a condition for them to run candidates in next year’s election.

Noriega has commanded the Defense Forces and, in effect, Panama since 1983. Calls for him to step down built up in the wake of accusations made by a former aide that he had ordered the death of an opposition newspaperman, laundered drug money through Panama and rigged elections.

A series of charges ensued that culminated in the indictments returned against him earlier this month by two federal grand juries in Florida.