Panama, Downplaying Rift, Calls for New Talks

Panama’s government played down news of the collapse of talks between military ruler Gen. Manuel A. Noriega and the Reagan Administration on Wednesday, saying negotiations could begin again, perhaps as soon as President Reagan returns from the summit meeting in Moscow.

La Republica, the government-owned afternoon newspaper, printed a statement from Panama’s military high command that said the talks “should continue” and should be widened to include Panamanian politicians instead of just Noriega or his representatives.

Commerce Minister Mario Rognoni, an associate of Noriega, told The Times that negotiations could be renewed as soon as Reagan returns to the United States from the Soviet Union. The President is due to arrive back in Washington on June 4.

“What is two more weeks between countries that have had relations for 80 years?” Rognoni asked.

Noriega himself made no public statements. He is scheduled to speak to Panama’s rubber-stamp legislature today and report on the talks.

The subdued reaction of the Panamanian government stood in sharp contrast to statements by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who in remarks Wednesday appeared to close the door to continuing the negotiations.

Weeks of Shuttle Diplomacy

The collapse of negotiations followed more than three weeks of shuttle diplomacy between Washington and Panama City by special U.S. envoy Michael G. Kozak. The Reagan Administration, through Kozak, offered to drop drug-trafficking charges pending against Noriega if he stepped down.

The Administration has been pressing for a return to civilian rule in Panama and considers Noriega the prime obstacle to its goal.

Rognoni blamed the termination of the talks on the desire of the Administration to end the negotiations before Reagan left Washington for the summit meeting.

According to Rognoni, the remaining differences between Noriega and the Administration are more of form than substance. “It’s a question of getting things in the right order,” he said.

“The United States thinks that because we are small, it can do what it wants with us. But we need respect,” he added.

Newspaper Account

La Republica gave a different explanation for the collapse of the talks, however. It reported that the U.S. negotiator had not guaranteed that Manuel Solis Palma, the country’s nominal president and a supporter of Noriega, could stay in office. The Administration recognizes deposed President Eric A. Delvalle as the country’s legal president.

In addition, according to La Republica, the Panama Defense Forces considered that the U.S. offer, as it stood, would lead to “security risks and confrontations among Panamanians.”

That article was based on statements from the military general staff and the Strategic Military Council, a core group of high-ranking officers who support Noriega within the Defense Forces.

Reports from Washington indicated that officers under Noriega’s command rejected a deal that would end in Noriega’s ouster. A headline in the morning newspaper La Critica, which is also government-owned, seemed to back that report. It said that the Strategic Military Council opposed Noriega’s exit.

Other Panamanian sources asserted that the talks stalled over U.S. insistence that Noriega make his retirement public immediately, even though the date set for his resignation was Aug. 12.

In any case, the end of the talks involving Kozak marked the third time within a year that negotiations between Noriega and the Reagan Administration have fallen apart at the last minute.

Last fall and early this year, Jose Blandon, Noriega’s consul in New York, tried to work out a deal between Noriega and the Administration in which Noriega would step down but be protected from prosecution for alleged human rights abuses.

Grand Jury Testimony

Noriega rejected Blandon’s plan, and Blandon then turned on Noriega, testifying against his former boss to a grand jury in Miami that was investigating narcotics trafficking. His testimony helped lead to the handing down of drug-trafficking, money-laundering and racketeering charges against Noriega.

In March, Kozak and William Walker, then deputy assistant secretary of state for Central America, traveled to Panama with a deal to let Noriega step down and go into exile in Spain. The United States, under the agreement, would not pursue Noriega on the drug charges that are pending in federal courts in both Miami and Tampa, Fla.

Noriega turned down the offer, saying it was “un-Panamanian.”

The United States now has only two policy options in Panama. Page 16.