U.S. to Ease Panama Curbs in Some Cases : American Firms May Be Able to Pay Rent, Taxes

The Administration plans to ease economic sanctions against Panama in “hardship cases” involving American citizens and U.S. companies that might be hurt by the restrictions, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Tuesday.

Another Administration official, who requested anonymity, insisted that “this is not some major relaxation” of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act invoked by President Reagan less than three weeks ago, prohibiting all payments to Panama by U.S. citizens and companies in that country.

The sweeping sanctions were aimed at forcing the ouster of Panama’s military strongman, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega.

Several Exemptions

Proposed exemptions under review by the Treasury Department would allow continued payment of utility bills, gasoline excise taxes, rental fees, airline landing fees and the departure tax required to leave the country, the official said.

The exemptions, expected to take effect in a week or two, would cover “hardship cases,” Fitzwater explained.

“Our concern has been for people living in Panama,” he said, who face difficulties if they are forbidden to pay “garbage and rent bills.” He added that the exemptions would “make life easier.”

The other official said U.S. airlines serving Panama are also of concern.

“You want American carriers to go to Panama. You want that kind of lifeline in there, too. So, you want them to be able to pay landing fees,” he said.

The official also said that “it is important for us to think of the future and our relations with Panama. . . . You have to look at the situation, what’s realistic and what’s not.”

Fitzwater denied that the exemptions are a signal that the sanctions are not working. When the curbs were announced April 8, he said, the Administration indicated that it was going to consider exemptions to them.

At the time of the announcement, an official said the sanctions were expected to have a major impact on Texaco, which runs a refinery in Panama; United Brands, which has major operations there, and Pan American World Airways and Eastern Airlines, both of which fly between the United States and Panama.

The 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act previously was used against Iran, Libya, Nicaragua and South Africa.

Reagan’s executive order invoking the act against Panama was far less sweeping than the freeze on Iranian assets that the Carter Administration imposed in 1979 after the taking of U.S. hostages in Tehran. The sanctions against Panama involve only those payments by U.S. corporations and individuals that are destined for the Noriega government, such as payments of Panamanian taxes, utility bills and telephone charges.