Violence Erupts After March by Noriega’s Opponents in Capital

For the first time since last fall, opponents of Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega took to the streets Wednesday to protest his military rule.

A peaceful noon march later gave way to violence as residents of two midtown neighborhoods set up burning barricades on main and side streets.

During the march, police stood by silently as the handful of demonstrators walked through Panama City’s financial district. In mid-afternoon, however, protesters burned a pickup truck said to belong to the government that was parked in front of a radio station closed by soldiers Tuesday.

Riot police arrived and fired birdshot to disperse the crowd, which took refuge in side streets. The demonstrators, mostly youths, set small bonfires of trash and tree branches in the streets. Housewives on balconies clanged pots in support of the protesters.

“We do this because we cannot demonstrate in any other way,” said a young man dragging plastic bags full of refuse into a street near Plaza Einstein, where the closed radio station is located.

As night fell, youths in the Cangrejo and Obarrio neighborhoods began burning tires and trash on several streets. At the Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church, protesters lined tires along busy 50th Street and set them afire. The demonstrators took refuge inside the church after riot police, carrying shields and rubber truncheons, arrived.

Tear-Gas Attacks

In streets around Plaza Einstein, police fired tear gas into apartment buildings and kicked in windows. It was not known whether there were any arrests or injuries.

Troops and police were stationed on street corners throughout the capital.

The opposition Civic Crusade’s general commercial strike was in its third day Wednesday. The strike has paralyzed most industries in Panama City and succeeded in shutting down stores in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Most businesses in working-class districts stayed open, although some have begun to close their doors in the afternoon.

Crusade leaders were considering ending the strike today. They were also planning to decide whether to continue street demonstrations.

The government, meanwhile, continued to showcase the new president, Manuel Solis Palma, making him available to foreign reporters for the first time. Solis replaced Eric A. Delvalle last week after Delvalle was fired for trying to dismiss Noriega from his post as head of Panama’s Defense Forces.

Delvalle is in hiding. The United States, which has indicted Noriega for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking, continues to recognize Delvalle as Panama’s president.

Solis told reporters that Delvalle committed a crime by urging Panamanians this week to stop paying their debts in order to deepen the country’s economic crisis.

He also said that opposition radio stations and newspapers closed by the government will not be allowed to reopen “until they cease to be a threat to peace, tranquillity and democracy.”

The government detained nine opposition supporters this week for publishing or broadcasting anti-government statements. All were later released.

Meanwhile, rumors circulated that military officers who oppose Noriega’s command were being purged from the Defense Forces. Western diplomats said that Maj. Moises del Rio, until recently Panama’s military attache in Peru, had been forced to resign.

However, the diplomats had no information regarding other officers rumored to have been dismissed: Col. Marcos Justine, Noriega’s chief of staff and the man named by Delvalle to succeed Noriega as Defense Forces chief; Col. Elias Castollo, a deputy chief of staff, and Maj. Fernando Quesada, described as a military police officer.

Col. Leonides Macias, the military chief of Panama City’s police force, denied that anyone had been dismissed or had resigned.

Diplomats and Panamanians have been intently watching for any possible split in the military as a sign that Noriega’s grip on power is weakening. Until now, the Defense Forces, with 15,000 troops, has solidly supported Noriega’s rule.

The U.S. State Department, tightening its economic pressure on Panama, said Wednesday that it will comply with a request from Delvalle to put in escrow rent payments for the Panama Canal, which is jointly operated by Panama and the United States.

Privately, canal officials have long worried that the political turbulence in Panama and deteriorating relations between Panama’s government and Washington would interfere with the complex operations at the waterway.

Dennis P. McAuliffe, the U.S.-appointed administrator of the canal, said that, so far, the crisis has not affected the passage of ships through the canal. On Wednesday, however, three bomb threats were telephoned into canal installations. No bombs were found.

Some workers at the canal were lobbying their co-workers to join the Civic Crusade’s strike. On Wednesday, for the fifth day in a row, a clandestine radio operator broke into a frequency used to control boat traffic. The broadcast called on workers to join the general strike.

About 80% of the 7,500 canal workers are Panamanian. McAuliffe has threatened to fire employees who go on strike. “It is a question of job security,” he told The Times on Wednesday.

Foreign governments have quietly been putting their own pressure on Panama. On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry tried to summon ambassadors to the presidential palace to be received by Solis. However, several said they would have to wait for permission from their governments before accepting such an invitation. The reception was called off.

Several governments in Latin America are reportedly uncomfortable with the military’s dominant role in Panamanian politics. Only Cuba and Nicaragua have openly spoken out in support of Noriega.

The uncertain situation in the country is steadily eroding Panama’s place as an international banking center. Foreign bankers say they are cutting their staffs because the prolonged unrest is scaring away depositors.

On Tuesday, Credit Suisse Bank, Switzerland’s third largest, announced that it was shutting its offices here.