U.S. Declares ‘Limits to Our Patience’ With Noriega

The Reagan Administration said Tuesday that there are “limits to our patience” with Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega, and a high-level spokesman for deposed President Eric A. Delvalle for the first time called for the removal of Noriega by force.

At the White House, President Reagan convened a special National Security Council meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in Panama. A spokesman said that the participants reviewed all the options for further U.S. action in Panama but that “no decisions were made.”

Throughout the day Tuesday, U.S. officials were careful in public statements not to exclude entirely the possibility of military action toward Panama. “While we have said that we don’t plan to go in militarily, it’s also important to note that there are limits,” presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

The immediate cause for the escalating rhetoric was the surprise raid in Panama City on Monday in which troops and plainclothes agents under Noriega’s control arrested leaders and members of the anti-Noriega Civic Crusade and detained American journalists.

Sosa Calls for Action

On Tuesday morning, Juan B. Sosa, Panama’s ambassador to the United States and a Delvalle loyalist, said the forces opposed to Noriega “are running out of peaceful alternatives.” He called for international action by the United States and other countries to force Noriega out of Panama.

“The Panamanian people have done everything we can do peacefully,” Sosa said. “We have paralyzed the country. The economy is ruined. There are people in the streets.” Now, he said, “It’s a matter of making the hard decision to go in and get Noriega out by force.” Sosa said he was speaking on behalf of Delvalle, who is in hiding.

Asked exactly what sort of military action he was proposing, Sosa replied: “I’m not a military man. I don’t know what it takes to remove Noriega by force.” He said that he does not think it would be necessary for a full-scale military invasion of Panama. “It could be a commando-type unit to (go in and) arrest him,” he added.

The ambassador insisted that an action to oust Noriega should not be viewed as outside intervention in Panama’s affairs. “Intervention is when someone goes in uninvited,” he said. “Here, the people are asking for it. Intervention is Cuban arms for Noriega.”

Fitzwater said that at least 37 people, including members of the opposition Civic Crusade and foreign correspondents, were detained in the raid by Noriega’s troops Monday. He said that in some cases, officials of the U.S. Embassy in Panama had been denied access to the stadium where some of these people were held. The foreign journalists were later released.

Fitzwater said the “threat to Americans” amounted to “a very difficult turn of events.”

“I just want to express the outrage of all of us about this incident,” he said. “ . . . I think it’s clear that there are limits to the activities of Mr. Noriega and limits to our patience and our policy endurance. But at this point, we are not ready to give these limits definition.”

An estimated 50,000 Americans live in Panama, including 10,000 servicemen in the U.S. Southern Command.