Noriega Says Negotiations With U.S. Have Collapsed

Gen. Manuel A. Noriega said today that negotiations with the United States on his eventual departure from power have collapsed.

At ceremonies in this rural town marking the anniversary of the death of a revolutionary hero, Noriega also told the Associated Press he could run for president in elections scheduled for next year.

“Everything fell apart. Everything fell apart. Everything apart,” Noriega repeated when asked about the talks between his military regime and the Reagan Administration.

In Washington, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Thursday that U.S. authorities were negotiating a deal with Noriega, who has been indicted in the United States on drug charges.

The general today visited La Negrita, 90 miles from Panama City, the place where Victoriano Lorenzo, a populist revolutionary, was executed by Colombian authorities on May 15, 1903. Although Panama did not gain independence from Colombia until six months later, and although Lorenzo was not fighting for independence, he is considered a precursor and martyr of Panamanian nationalism.

Lets Others Speak

Noriega did not address the crowd of several hundred peasants and other supporters from nearby towns. Instead, he listened to three speeches by local authorities denouncing “Yankee aggression” and watched a short play staged by local residents dramatizing parts of Lorenzo’s struggle.

As he descended the platform constructed for speakers and dignitaries, Noriega was asked if he could run for president in elections scheduled for next May. “Legally, yes,” he answered with a broad smile.

Asked if he was actively considering running for president, Noriega merely laughed.

Asked to comment on progress in recent talks concerning his eventual abandonment of power, he said they had collapsed--and repeated it twice.

Further pressed, Noriega, “As long as the aggression against Panama persists, as long as there are foreign troops on our territory, the dignity of Panama is above all else, without any faltering, without anything else mattering.”