Panama’s Strike Stirs Violence : Police, Bystanders Clash at Radio Site; Local Banks Close

For the first time during Panama’s general commercial strike, significant violence broke out Tuesday as police clashed with bystanders during the forced closing of a radio station and the detention of opponents of the government.

The strike intensified slightly as it entered its second day. It was called by the self-styled Civic Crusade, a grouping of business and trade organizations opposed to the de facto rule of Panama’s military strongman, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega.

The strike has paralyzed most industries in Panama City as well as stores in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Businesses in poorer sections of town remained open, reflecting the inability of strike organizers to widen direct anti-government action into working-class districts of Panama.

Strike to Continue

Gas stations, which were open Monday, closed Tuesday. Organizers said the strike will continue at least through today. By law, businesses must pay their workers during such shutdowns.

An air of uncertainty resulting from the country’s political crisis deepened with word that local Panamanian-owned banks had closed. There was confusion as to why: Some international bankers and diplomatic observers said they were notified that the banks had run out of money. But one bank owner, who did not want to be identified by name, said the banks had closed their doors in support of the general shutdown.

In addition, U.S. officials warned Panama Canal workers that they could be fired if they slowed traffic in the waterway.

Canal Traffic Normal

Traffic in the canal, which is an important trading route not only for the United States but for countries in Asia and Europe as well as Latin America, was reported running normally.

In Washington, the Reagan Administration and Congress stepped up attacks on the Noriega regime, but White House and Senate leaders acknowledged that they are considering no new efforts to weaken his rule.

Just after noon Tuesday, two carloads of plainclothes government agents broke into the studios of Radio Mundial, an independent station that occasionally broadcasts opposition opinion, according to residents in the surrounding neighborhood.

At the time of the break-in, an opposition politician, Mauro Zuniga, 61, was broadcasting an account of the general strike. Zuniga ran for president under the banner of a minor political party in 1984.

The agents dragged Zuniga, his son and several employees to waiting cars. Neighbors became incensed and began throwing rocks, driving the police agents back into the station. On balconies fronting the nearby apartments, women clanged pots and waved white handkerchiefs in protest.

Riot police carrying shields, shotguns and tear-gas launchers arrived to rescue the agents. In the melee, Zuniga’s son, Carlos, was beaten by the plainclothesmen. At a press conference later, he displayed welts on his back and a bruised forehead to reporters.

The police fired their shotguns up and down the street to frighten the gathering crowd, which then retreated into side streets. Several youths set up barricades and lit small bonfires of trash.

Two teen-age boys and a young woman were reportedly wounded by the gunfire.

Arrested, Then Released

All those arrested were released in different parts of the city later.

The Radio Mundial incident was reminiscent of similar occurrences in the Philippines before the fall of Ferdinand E. Marcos, when Filipinos would come to the aid of citizens being threatened, beaten or arrested by soldiers and police.

“It will happen again, more and more,” said Gonzalo Cordoba, a college professor.

Cordoba, however, was quick to caution that such street actions, by themselves, would probably never be enough to unseat Noriega. He called for other countries to stop trading with Panama.

“We would suffer, sure, if there was an embargo, but I see no other way,” Cordoba said.

The closure of Panamanian-owned banks could aggravate tensions here. The banks had been suffering from steady withdrawals of funds during most of the past eight months and a renewed run on cash deposits last week. The run raised concern that the banks would be driven out of business, bankers and diplomats said Tuesday.

On Monday, Banco General, a local mortgage bank, ran out of cash and closed its doors while depositors were still in line waiting to make withdrawals.

The closings mean that businesses with accounts in those banks cannot pay their bills except with cash. Some bankers and foreign diplomats predicted a panic as word of the closures spreads.

“It’s a disaster,” said an international banker familiar with the local financial problems.

The banks that shut down handle about one-half of the local banking business in Panama. The National Bank of Panama, which is also the government’s central bank, and at least two foreign banks that conduct domestic business were still open Tuesday.

However, the banks that were still operating would not accept checks drawn on the banks that had closed.

The operation of offshore banks in Panama, a major industry that handles international accounts and commerce, was not affected. International bankers have been warned they would lose their licenses if they closed during the strike.

Millions of dollars in deposits from these banks have been frightened away from Panama during the past eight months of turmoil, and some bankers fear that the country’s place as a major offshore banking center may be permanently damaged.

In an internal memo issued Monday, Dennis P. McAuliffe, the U.S. head of the Panama Canal Commission, said rules at the waterway “proscribe political activities.”

“Any action by an employee which results in the interruption of the transit function or otherwise impedes the operation of the Canal will be dealt with in the most severe manner allowable under the circumstances,” the letter said. According to the letter, the punishment could include dismissal.

Political problems here intensified last week after the firing of President Eric A. Delvalle, who was removed from office after trying to dismiss Noriega. The United States contends that Delvalle remains the legal president of Panama.