Reagan Bars Key Supporters of Noriega From U.S.; Act Seen as Mainly Symbolic

President Reagan, invoking his powers under federal immigration law, Friday indefinitely barred key supporters of Panama’s strongman Manuel A. Noriega and his puppet civilian president, Manuel Solis Palma, from entering the United States.

Although the move is largely symbolic, it is the first step taken by the Administration to try to put pressure on Noriega to quit his post as commander of the Panama Defense Forces since he rejected an American offer to drop drug-trafficking charges against him if he would resign and leave his country temporarily.

Reagan said he took the action because elements led by Noriega and Solis are “preventing the legitimate government of President Eric A. Delvalle from restoring order and democracy” in Panama.

Delvalle, recognized by Washington as Panama’s legitimate chief of state, was ousted as president by the National Assembly at Noriega’s behest Feb. 26, a day after he tried to fire the strongman from his military post. Delvalle has been in hiding somewhere in Panama ever since.

Reagan’s directive, issued unexpectedly late Friday afternoon, had been under consideration for some time, White House sources said. It was aimed at high-ranking government officials and officers of the Panama Defense Forces.

However, Reagan carefully limited the scope of his directive, which will not affect travel by Panamanian diplomats and ordinary citizens coming to the United States as tourists.

There was no immediate indication of how many Panamanians would be affected by the President’s action. State Department aides said a list of key figures involved in shaping or carrying out Noriega’s policies will be compiled and sent to U.S. consulates to prevent them from acquiring visas for U.S. travel.

“Quite a few of his supporters have been coming to the United States fairly frequently, usually to Miami,” one White House official said. “Let them do their shopping somewhere else.”

A State Department official said that the order will serve as a reminder to Noriega’s top advisers that the United States is still angry over the Panamanian leader’s actions and that they will pay a price for serving in his regime.

Travel to the United States, the official added, is valued highly by middle- and upper-class Latin Americans.

“If some government minister in Panama has a condominium in Boca Raton (Florida), he won’t be going there now,” the official said. “If he has a son in college in the United States, he won’t be able to visit him.”

“We’re going to continue to ratchet up the pressure,” added the official, who asked that his name not be used.

The ruling also will prevent families of the key Noriega supporters from visiting this country.

“I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to restrict the entrance into the United States as immigrants or non-immigrants of certain persons who formulate or implement the policies of Manuel Antonio Noriega and Manuel Solis Palma,” Reagan said.

The President added that he acted “in light of the current political and economic crisis in Panama and the actions of Manuel Antonio Noriega and Manuel Solis Palma and their forces that engendered this crisis. . . .”

The United States earlier this year imposed economic sanctions that have brought Panama’s economy into crisis but failed to achieve Washington’s goal of forcing Noriega to leave the country.

Collapse of the U.S. negotiations with Noriega--a form of plea-bargaining on the international level--dashed hopes for a quick solution. The American offer to drop federal criminal charges against Noriega also triggered heavy criticism of the Administration by Congress and even by Vice President George Bush, who condemned the idea of bargaining with accused drug traffickers.

Reagan has ruled out U.S. military intervention in Panama, although about 12,000 U.S. servicemen are based there to protect the strategic Panama Canal.