Marine in Panama Fatally Shot by Own Squad During Search

Members of a U.S. Marine security patrol accidentally shot to death one of their own squad early Tuesday while searching for intruders in a jungle site near a Navy fuel depot, U.S. military authorities said.

Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard, while stressing that the death of Marine Cpl. Ricardo Villahermosa was an accident, also said that several groups of intruders in camouflage had been seen in recent weeks in a fuel storage area near where the corporal was shot. He said they were “presumably” members of the Panama Defense Forces, which is led by strongman Manuel A. Noriega.

However, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Hartung, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Panama, said, “We have nothing to substantiate that these were (Panamanian military) people.”

And Maj. Daniel Delgado, a spokesman for the Panamanian military, dismissed the Pentagon’s allegation. He called the recent U.S. troop buildup in Panama “a ‘Rambo’ syndrome against our country that we consider provocative.”

The Marines arrived from Camp Lejeune, N.C., last week as part of a group of 1,300 troops sent to bolster security at U.S. bases at a time of intense American pressure on Gen. Noriega to resign and leave the country. Washington has accused the Panamanian leader of drug trafficking and related corruption.

Marine Capt. Mark Hughes said that, a few days ago, a patrol had sighted but failed to apprehend a group of several men in greasepaint and wearing camouflage uniforms in the fuel tank area.

At 12:10 a.m. Tuesday, Hughes said, a Marine patrol heard a group of trespassers in the same area, inside the Rodman Naval Station on the western end of the canal. After a fruitless search, the 12-man patrol was regrouping when one Marine accidentally dropped a flare that made a sound like a shot, Hughes said.

Believing they were under fire, other Marines fired a total of seven rounds from their M-16 rifles, Hughes said. One bullet hit Villahermosa, 25, of Santurce, Puerto Rico, in the stomach, and he died an hour later.

U.S. Air Force Col. Ronald T. Sconyers, chief spokesman for the Southern Command, said when asked about tension among U.S. forces in light of the political situation in Panama: “I’m sure everybody’s edgy. And here you have unknown people moving around and a flare goes off--sure there’s tenseness.”

Times staff writer Melissa Healy in Washington also contributed to this story.