Politics 88 : Jackson Asks Aid for Panamanians : Says U.S. Sanctions Aimed at Noriega Lead to Starvation

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in a rare excursion into foreign policy on the eve of the Wisconsin primary, said U.S. economic sanctions aimed at forcing Panama’s Gen. Manuel A. Noriega from power are leading to starvation in the country.

Jackson said the sanctions should nevertheless be left in place but should be coupled with humanitarian aid to Panamanians of the kind that Congress has approved for the Nicaraguan Contras.

“The common people are being starved, the common people are going without medicine, are in great anguish and pain, and Noriega is insulated by his wealth and his military,” Jackson said in an impassioned speech Monday morning during a campaign walk through a largely Latino neighborhood in South Milwaukee.

Offers No Evidence

Jackson cited no evidence, however, that hunger or starvation had in fact resulted from the Administration’s efforts to block the flow of dollars from U.S. to Panamanian banks.

When reporters asked Jackson about the basis of his statement, he replied that it was logical to conclude that, “When people cannot get money, they cannot buy food and they starve.”

“I’ve also talked with people in Panama who feel abandoned . . . who cannot get food, cannot get medical supplies,” Jackson said in a later news conference at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

‘Humanitarian Aid’

He added that, “Humanitarian aid is in order” for the Panamanian population, but he stopped short of saying what form it should take, who should supply it and on what scale.

“That’s difficult to say,” he replied when asked for details.

Jackson’s remarks on the crisis in Panama, which followed Noriega’s indictment in the United States in February on drug and racketeering charges, marked a rare and somewhat shaky deviation from his standard stump speech.

The details of his position on Panama seemed to evolve as the day progressed and reporters traveling with the candidate pressed him for clarification.

Views ‘Overlapped’

Later in the day, Jackson spoke by telephone with two senior State Department officials, Undersecretary Michael H. Armacost and Deputy Secretary John C. Whitehead, then told reporters that he found his views on the Panamanian crisis “overlapped” the Administration’s.

Jackson said the two officials agreed that some humanitarian aid was in order and told him that $275,000 worth had already been sent to Panama. Jackson said this was “too little” but declined to specify how much would be enough.

“Economic sanctions should be continued, but the common people are suffering,” Jackson said in calling for outside aid for Panama’s population of 2 million.

At the morning street rally, Jackson said at first that the United States should provide food and medicine to Panamanians as it does to the 15,000 Nicaraguan Contras the government is supporting in Central America.

Red Cross, Church

When reporters pressed for details of his proposal, he said only that aid should be dispensed by the International Red Cross and the Roman Catholic Church.

“If, in a day or two, the full-court press of setting the forest on fire to smoke Noriega out had worked, it would have been a more temporary pain,” he said.

“But now as the days go on, Noriega is insulated with his wealth and his military. The common people cannot get food, cannot get medicine, some cannot get water.”

“We stand the danger . . . of stirring up anti-American hysteria, the kind of nationalism that will limit our impact in the region,” Jackson declared.

Urges Investigation

He called for closer cooperation with other Latin American nations in pressuring Noriega to relinquish power. He also urged Congress to investigate the U.S. government’s relations with Noriega to learn “what made the relationship go sour” and explore any role that Noriega may have played in circumventing congressional bans on supplying U.S. weapons to the Contras.

“To be sure, our CIA was involved with Noriega for a long time. We’ve known of his dealings in drugs and guns for a long time, and other leaders in the region as well,” Jackson asserted.

His remarks on Panama were prompted by a reply from Noriega to a letter Jackson sent to him on March 23 urging the Panamanian dictator to resign and offering to help facilitate his departure.

‘Great Moral Authority’

Noriega, according to a translation that Jackson’s campaign staff released, brushed the appeal aside in diplomatic language and urged Jackson instead to use his “great moral authority” to oppose what he calls the “threat of foreign intervention.”

“I have been lied about! I have been vilified,” Noriega complained in his letter. “I have been humiliated internationally!”

Jackson said he would leave it to the State Department and to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to interpret Noriega’s reply.

His involvement in the matter, Jackson said, should not be construed as interference in American foreign policy and was no different from his moral appeals to South Africa to end apartheid and to the Soviet Union to give Jews the freedom to leave.