Reagan May Freeze Panama Assets : U.S. Embargo Also Sought; Delvalle Backers Urge Coup

The Reagan Administration, escalating its campaign of economic pressure against the military regime in Panama, is preparing a presidential order to freeze most Panamanian assets in the United States, officials said Thursday.

At the same time, supporters of Panama’s deposed civilian president acted to seize more of their government’s properties, including Air Panama jetliners and revenues from the oil pipeline that crosses the Central American isthmus.

The civilian opposition groups, joined by a coalition of powerful Republican and Democratic senators, also asked the Administration to impose a total trade embargo on Panama to hasten the fall of Panama’s military strongman, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, whom the United States accuses of drug-related corruption.

And they called on other Panamanian military officers to stage a coup d’etat against Noriega, who has defied an order from civilian President Eric A. Delvalle to step down.

Delvalle attempted to fire Noriega as military commander last week, but the general retaliated by persuading Panama’s Parliament to replace Delvalle with a new president. Washington says it still recognizes Delvalle, although he has gone into hiding somewhere in Panama.

“We would hope that the officers of the Panama Defense Forces would do what every other Latin American military would do under similar circumstances: Get rid of the rascal and throw him out!” said Ricardo Arias Calderon, leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Party and chairman of an anti-Noriega coalition here.

Arias and other opposition leaders said they have devised a secret 18-point plan for toppling Noriega. “We have already implemented the first seven points,” said Juan B. Sosa, Panama’s ambassador to Washington, who declared himself loyal to Delvalle last week.

Additional Measures

The measures already put into effect include halting transfers of money from Panamanian government accounts in the United States to Panama, asking the United States to put its payments for use of the Panama Canal into an escrow account and “decertifying” Panamanian diplomats who have not declared their loyalty to Delvalle.

In a series of announcements Thursday, U.S. and Panamanian officials disclosed these additional measures against Noriega:

-- The Administration is moving toward a presidential order to freeze most Panamanian assets in the United States. Secretary of State George P. Shultz told reporters in Brussels that such a freeze was being “considered carefully . . . (as) a very active operational kind of option.” Other officials said details are being worked out and that President Reagan will probably sign a freeze order next week.

Such an order would cover more Panamanian assets than the limited restraining orders granted to Delvalle by a federal court this week, officials said.

-- Delvalle’s representatives in the United States plan to seize any jetliners of Air Panama, the government-owned airline, that land in U.S. territory. Sosa, Delvalle’s ambassador here, is also the chairman of Air Panama. He said that an Air Panama flight to Miami on Wednesday reportedly turned back and landed in Cuba rather than risk being seized.

-- Delvalle’s followers also are seeking control over payments made for the use of the oil pipeline that crosses Panama, moving oil from tankers in the Atlantic to ships in the Pacific. An attorney for the opposition said that most of the pipeline revenues are apparently paid to an agency based in New York. Officials said they did not know how much income the Panamanian government gains from the pipeline but that it is significant.

-- Six U.S. senators introduced legislation to impose an immediate trade and financial embargo on Panama, and Administration officials said they are considering similar but less sweeping steps.

The senators--including liberal Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and archconservative Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)--said that they want the embargo to be “immediate, dramatic and devastating.” They proposed banning all trade with Panama, air travel between the two countries and bank transfers from the United States to Panama City.

“By stopping the transfer of funds from U.S. banks to Panama, we go for the jugular,” said Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.), another sponsor of the bill. He predicted that an embargo “would spell the end of Noriega within a matter of days.”

Ambassador Sosa said that the Panamanian opposition supports the embargo and added that he is “confident” the Administration will move to impose an embargo without waiting for Congress to act.

State Department officials, however, said the idea of a trade embargo is still embroiled in debate within the Administration. “I don’t think we favor an embargo so total that it deprives us of all flexibility,” one said.

The State Department has taken the lead in devising U.S. sanctions against Noriega. Officials said that the Commerce Department opposes a trade embargo because of its commitment to open trading. They said that the Pentagon remains hesitant about tough measures against Noriega, apparently because of fears that he might retaliate with measures against the 10,000 U.S. troops based in Panama.

Times staff writer Michael Wines contributed to this story.