Unity of Panama Strikers Against Noriega Crumbles

A wave of strikes that had brought Panama’s economy to a virtual standstill in recent weeks broke down Wednesday as Gen. Manuel A. Noriega showed continued determination to stay in power.

Five supermarket chains reopened for the first time in 9 days, dockworkers went back to their jobs after a 2-week walkout and banks made preparations to conduct limited business after a 3-week shutdown.

At the same time, the government scraped up money to meet at least part of a payroll due public employees this week as well as salaries left unpaid 2 weeks ago. The search for money coincided with partially successful efforts to end a wave of public worker walkouts.

Tax collections from U.S. companies that operate in Panama had helped Noriega stay afloat. But the Reagan Administration, which is trying to force the military strongman from power, said Wednesday it will act to block such payments. (Story on Page 12.)

In all, Noriega appeared to be surviving the latest round of pressures to force him out of office and out of Panama. The impasse between Noriega on one side and domestic foes and the U.S. government on the other evidently will continue for the foreseeable future.

Some Panamanians have begun to express impatience with U.S. policy that has choked their livelihoods but has yet to squeeze Noriega out. The Reagan Administration has cooperated with efforts by Noriega’s rivals to shut off the flow of dollars to Panama.

“The United States has taken half-steps that hurt us but have not gotten to Noriega,” said Martin Porro, a taxi driver at the port of Balboa near Panama City. “This threat to Noriega is not enough, except to drive us to desperation.”

Sometimes intimidation, sometimes steady negotiation and sometimes both have helped crack the paralyzing strikes here.

Nine days of a solid commercial strike called by the Civic Crusade, an anti-Noriega coalition, was broken by retail grocery store chains. Crusade leaders said retail store owners decided to reopen because they were fearful of having their businesses confiscated.

The government’s seizure of flour from two private mills last week made the grocers doubly nervous, crusade leaders said.

Reacting to Pressure

“Some people take pressure better than others,” Pierre Leignadier, a crusade official, said.

Although not all retail chains opened Wednesday, crusade leaders admitted there was nothing they could do to stop the breach in the strike from spreading. Crusade leaders originally had said they would maintain the strike until Noriega fell.

“As far as we are concerned, the strike goes on,” Leignadier said. “We will see what happens.”

Dockworkers at Balboa and Colon agreed to reopen the country’s two main ports after armed forces negotiators worked out a complex wage agreement. The government paid the workers checks in a variety of denominations. At Balboa, the checks could be cashed at a duty-free shop on the waterfront, although it was not clear why or how the store owner provided the money to cover the checks. Uniformed police barred reporters from entering the shop.

In order to cash their paychecks, the workers were asked to make purchases amounting to as high as 50% of the face value of the check. The change was paid in dollars, legal tender here.

Goods and Cash

“This is an adequate solution for now,” said Ersamo Vedillo, a dockworker. Vedillo made $40 in purchases of such things as chocolate, detergent and canned meat and received $60 in change from two checks totaling $100.

“But what will I do tomorrow if I need money?” Vedillo asked. “I do not want to buy more groceries. I have plenty of groceries. What I need is cash.”

Vedillo said he had one last check of $85 left over from his pay.

The dockworkers had limited their strike demands only to wage issues, although rank-and-file members expressed opposition to Noriega. “To strike for political reasons would have destroyed us,” union official Marcos Martinez said.

Martinez admitted his union was influenced in accepting a pay agreement by the seizure of port facilities and the closure of its headquarters last week. Soldiers raided the union hall and briefly detained several dockworkers on Friday.

On Wednesday, other public employee strikes and slowdowns continued. But beyond a strike by teachers, the walkouts have not significantly disrupted government services. The government has closed public schools indefinitely, and although teachers received paychecks Wednesday, they had no place to cash them.

Bank Reopenings Planned

Meanwhile, the government has reached an agreement with banks to begin preparing for a limited reopening next Thursday. Talks between the government and the bankers have been going on almost continuously in recent days.

Last week, the government warned the banks that if they did not open, the government would force them to do so one way or another.

As a result of transactions left incomplete when the recent turmoil began, local banks owe the government’s National Bank of Panama about $19 million. If the banks open and are forced to pay the money, it would provide another source of cash to pay government salaries. Under the reopening plan, withdrawal of money by individual and corporate clients would be severely limited.

Noriega is resisting multiple demands that he step down and has yet to respond to the latest request, made Tuesday by the Roman Catholic Church.

A commentator on government-owned radio said the church had disqualified itself from any future mediation role in Panama’s crisis because it “had already taken sides.” For the moment, Noriega has at least dispersed--if not silenced--his most persistent critics, the members of the Civic Crusade.

A raid on a crusade press office Monday has momentarily scattered the leadership.

One prominent crusade leader remains under arrest. He is Carlos Gonzalez de la Lastra, an insurance executive who led an anti-Noriega street march Monday. Another crusade member, Romero Guillen, is hospitalized with head injuries, human rights officials affiliated with the crusade said Wednesday.

Some 45 other crusade leaders, members and sympathizers were detained during the raid, but all were released after lawyers arranged to pay $9,500 bail. Journalists also were beaten and arrested during the raid but were freed Monday and Tuesday.