Panama Troops Seize Flour in Raids on Mills

Troops under the command of military strongman Manuel A. Noriega on Saturday raided two mills and expropriated flour that had been destined for the poor under a program sponsored by a Roman Catholic relief agency.

The government had announced late Friday that it was going to take over the mills and buy the flour to make “bread for the people.” The owners of the mills responded Saturday by giving the flour to Caritas, the Catholic relief agency.

Caritas has been providing meals and groceries to needy families that have run out of money during the country’s current economic and political crisis.

Pressure on Noriega

The seizure of the mills was one of a series of direct steps taken by the government in an effort to lessen the effects of strikes that are putting heavy pressure on Noriega to leave his post as commander of the Panama Defense Forces and his role as this nation’s de facto ruler.

Voluntary closures by private industry and businesses and strikes by public workers have brought Panama’s economy to a virtual standstill. Under a proclaimed “state of urgency,” the government has given itself the power to take over closed businesses and break the strikes, but it had moved slowly until Saturday. A showdown between various striking groups and the government has been building for days.

The private business strike, which entered its sixth day Saturday, is openly aimed at forcing Noriega from power. The walkouts by public employees, including port, electrical, water and telephone unions as well as by teachers, are nominally in protest for late or absent wage payments. Many of the rank-and-file workers, however, have expressed their opposition to Noriega’s continued rule.

Joined Strike

The owners of the two flour mills had joined the business strike and shut down operations last Monday.

In a statement released Saturday, mill owners said that “the flour is ours and we can do with it what we want. We are giving it to Caritas.”

One of the mills--Harinas Panama--is Panamanian-owned. The other--General Mills--is controlled by the American company of the same name. Its operation includes the importation of Betty Crocker products.

Caritas officials were unsure whether they would get any of the flour.

“We were going to use the flour to provide bread for the poor. Bakers had volunteered their services to make the bread for free,” said Laureano Duran, a priest and head of Caritas. “Now, the soldiers are creating problems for us.”

Caritas is providing free food for about 8,500 families, mostly in poor neighborhoods in the outlying township of San Miguelito, Duran said. The mill owners had donated 13,000 100-pound sacks of flour to the program, enough to provide bread for the entire population of Panama for two weeks.

The government takeovers began at noon, when about 30 riot police equipped with tear gas and M-16 rifles occupied the Harinera mill. They arrested about 20 employees and left soldiers to guard the installation.

An hour later, they raided the General Mills plant, although they apparently made no arrests there. No one at either mill was hurt. Small crowds gathered at each installation to applaud the arrested workers and taunt the soldiers with shouts of “Justice!”

Later in the afternoon, soldiers oversaw workers loading white sacks of flour on flatbed trucks. A military officer on the scene said the trucks were taking the flour to a government agricultural merchandising agency. In recent weeks, the government has been giving out its own supplies of groceries to public employees as part of reduced wage packages.

Panama City’s archbishop, Marcos G. McGrath, visited the mills and said only that he hopes the government had “good intentions.”

Moves to Reopen Ports

Elsewhere, the government moved to reopen ports that have been shut down for two weeks by striking workers.

In a pre-dawn raid, soldiers occupied the Pacific Coast port of Balboa to drive away striking dockworkers and remove large cargo containers that had blocked the entrance to the docks, according to workers and port officials. There were reports of a similar action at Colon, on the Caribbean coast. It was not clear how the government would persuade workers to actually labor at the facilities.

The docks at Balboa and Colon handle about 60% of Panama’s imports and exports.

Soldiers occupied electrical, telephone and water utilities two weeks ago and have operated them with civilian skeleton crews. The government has suspended the opening of schools indefinitely, hoping to avoid unrest. Teachers and students have been among the most active opponents of Noriega.

According to a communique published in government newspapers Saturday, the government ordered grocery stores and pharmacies to open. Nonetheless, the stores remained closed, and there was no move to force them to do business.

Banks have been closed since early March, although the government is pressing them to cash checks made out to the government. The bankers say they will not open until all normal banking operations, including the government’s own Banco Nacional de Panama, can safely be restarted.

President Manuel Solis Palma, the country’s nominal civilian chief of state, met with bankers Thursday and appealed to them to give the government “a bottle of oxygen” by opening and cashing the government’s checks, according to sources who attended the meeting.

In a communique issued Saturday, Solis was less diplomatic. He cautioned the bankers that if they don’t open, “the government will be obliged . . . to use all the legal resources at its disposal to impose a quick opening.” Government bank inspectors have been going through the books of several banks to see what money they have on hand.

Strapped for Cash

Panama’s government is severely strapped for cash. Courts in the United States have frozen government funds held in American banks at the request of opponents of Noriega. Panama’s government does not have enough cash to cover the bi-weekly official payroll falling due next week, including more than $6 million in pensions for retired workers. The pensioners have threatened to organize street protests if they are not paid in full.

Next week will be the second pay period in a row that the government has been unable to meet its payroll.

Despite the economic vise closing on his regime, Noriega remains defiant. He warned the United States in a television interview against “creating another Vietnam” in Panama. He said that, if the United States were to invade this country--something Washington has repeatedly denied even contemplating--American, as well as Panamanian blood, would be spilled.

Panama’s U.S. Embassy is a house divided. Page 27.