U.S. to Bolster Its Panama Troops : 1,300 Military Personnel to Be Sent by Reagan

President Reagan, responding to “the heavy-handed tactics” of Panama’s strongman, Manuel A. Noriega, has decided to send 1,300 additional troops to U.S. military installations in that country next week to counter “the potential for increased threats to U.S. citizens and interests in Panama,” the Defense Department said Friday.

The U.S. contingent will include police forces and a helicopter fleet to move the troops quickly in case of an attack on the Panama Canal or U.S. citizens, Pentagon officials said. About 10,000 U.S. troops are already in Panama.

7 Helicopter Gunships

Besides military police and 15 transport helicopters, the U.S. force will include a 300-man Marine rifle company, four OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopters and seven AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships, one of the Army’s most lethal weapons.

Col. Ronald Sconyers, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command based in Panama, emphasized that the sole purpose of the additional troops and helicopters is to protect American troops, their families and other U.S. citizens there.

“This is not meant to be a statement to Noriega,” Sconyers insisted. “It is just a prudent measure to protect personnel and facilities.”

The U.S. Southern Command is a major U.S. military and intelligence outpost that is responsible for U.S. troops in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The decision to mount the new show of force was made as Administration officials pondered still stronger measures to speed the departure of Noriega, who is wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges.

Use of Force Reportedly Urged

Sources said Secretary of State George P. Shultz has urged Reagan to order U.S. military or covert action against the Panamanian strongman, who is charged by U.S. officials with helping drug traffickers move cocaine into the United States.

So far the United States has relied largely on economic pressure to induce Noriega to step down.

The latest buildup of U.S. forces in the country, set to begin next Tuesday, will be the third in three weeks. The Defense Department dispatched 420 U.S. military police and other security forces March 12 and 18 to beef up security surrounding the U.S. facilities in Panama City, according to the Pentagon.

This latest move came as U.S. troops and their 13,000 dependents in Panama prepared to spend Easter under light restrictions on their movements. Since February, Panamanian soldiers have arrested about 49 U.S. troops, mostly traveling to or from work, and detained them for short periods.

Defense officials said the heavily armed forces would pose no immediate threat to the Noriega government.

“You don’t go to war with a few hundred Marines,” said a senior defense official. “Their mission is completely defensive.”

He did not explain how the Cobra helicopter gunships, equipped with rockets and machine guns, would fit this defensive mission.

The Marine combat company, from Camp Lejeune, N.C., will be accompanied by 500 military police, a 350-member Army helicopter unit from Ft. Ord, Calif., and 150 Air Force security specialists, along with trained security dogs.

Heightened Fears

The fears of Americans in Panama were heightened Monday when troops and plainclothes police under Noriega’s command raided the Marriott Cesar Park Hotel in Panama City. Although the primary goal was apparently to close a press office of some of Noriega’s main rivals, the troops also beat and detained U.S. and other foreign journalists staying at the hotel.

“The instability of the current situation in Panama, the heavy-handed tactics of Noriega in dealing with the situation, and the potential for increased threats to U.S. citizens and interests in Panama make this deployment essential at this time to ensure the continued safety of U.S. personnel and facilities,” the Pentagon said in a statement Friday.

As the new U.S. security forces prepared to depart, about 28 naval ships and more than 40,000 U.S. troops gathered in the Caribbean to begin a three-week naval exercise. American airmen and sailors will conduct a mock evacuation of dependents from Puerto Rico to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, an exercise that Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said was “simply prudent in light of the fact that situations like this do happen in the real world.”

In Panama, Sconyers said no special plans have been made to evacuate American civilians from that country.

Melissa Healy reported from Washington and Dan Williams reported from Panama City.