800 More Marines Going to Panama for Jungle Training : U.S. Denies Noriega Is the Target

The Defense Department today said it is sending 800 Marines to Panama for jungle training but denied the move was part of the U.S. drive to oust Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel A. Noriega.

The Marine operation is separate from the deployment of another 1,300 U.S. soldiers who began arriving in Panama on Tuesday to boost security at American bases along the Panama Canal.

The troop deployments came as the White House was considering new options in the campaign to force Noriega, head of the Panama Defense Forces and the country’s de facto ruler, to relinquish power to civilian authorities.

From Camp Pendleton

A senior White House official said on Tuesday the Administration wants to increase pressure on Noriega, who has been indicted on drug charges in Florida, and would welcome a military coup against him. The official insisted, however, that the United States was not actively fomenting a coup.

The Pentagon said the 800 Marines, from the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., will go to Panama on Friday for previously scheduled training lasting three weeks at the U.S. Army’s Jungle Operations Training Center at Ft. Sherman.

“This unit training deployment has been scheduled since December and is not related to the current situation in Panama,” the Defense Department said in a statement.

Frequent Training Site

It said training is held at Ft. Sherman about 14 times a year for battalion-sized Army infantry and Marine units.

The United States maintains 10,000 combat troops in Panama as part of the U.S. Southern Command headquarters, which oversees operations in Central and South America.

The first units of the 1,300 new security troops arrived in Panama on Tuesday. The remainder were to be there by Friday, the Pentagon said.

The security units include 500 Army military police, 300 Marines, 150 Air Force security guards, 6 guard dogs and their handlers, and 26 helicopters, including 7 Cobra gunships, and their crews.

Doubling of Forces

The troop deployments amounted to a doubling of U.S. security forces in Panama to protect U.S. bases, the Panama Canal and dependents of U.S. servicemen.

In Panama today, the Roman Catholic Church said Noriega has agreed to church-mediated talks with opponents seeking to oust him.

In agreeing to the talks Noriega dropped his earlier insistence that the church was not fit to mediate efforts to resolve the Panama crisis because it sided with the opposition.

But a leader of the anti-Noriega National Civic Crusade said problems still had to be overcome before the two sides sat down together.

May Be Seeking Exit

The 50-year-old general reportedly has been seeking ways to make an honorable exit from Panama, which is facing financial ruin because of economic sanctions imposed by Washington.

A church statement said the government had orally told Archbishop Marcos McGrath that Noriega agreed to talk. McGrath was still awaiting a written answer.

Several military officers mounted a failed coup attempt against Noriega last month and defected to the United States.

The war of nerves began last summer when Washington cut aid to Panama to protest Noriega’s refusal to give power to civilians.

In February the general ousted President Eric Arturo Delvalle when Delvalle tried to fire him. The deposed president, who is supported by Washington, has since been in hiding.