U.S. Delegation Arrives in Panama to Observe Today’s Election

An official U.S. delegation of election observers, dispatched by President Bush to monitor Panama’s elections today, landed at this U.S. air base Saturday and set the stage for a potential confrontation with the Panamanian government over their presence in the country.

Rep. John Murtha, (D-Pa.), the head of the delegation, told reporters in a brief news conference on the air base tarmac that the 21-member group arrived with “the appropriate documents necessary to get into the country.” In reply to repeated questions, he said the group had “appropriate visas,” but he declined to specify where and by whom they were issued.

Sen. Bob Graham, (D-Fla.), said the presidential commission members were able to enter Panama because they are traveling under U.S. military orders. He said their passports were collected and returned later with Panamanian immigration stamps in them.

However, Panamanian officials made it clear that they do not consider the delegation to be in the country legally for the purpose of observing the elections.

Graham said he did not consider the group’s presence provocative. “We are not here to create any confrontation or interfere with the election process,” he said.

U.S. officials here privately contradicted an assertion by White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater on Friday that the presidential commission members would not need Panamanian visas if they entered the country via Howard Air Base. The officials said that under the 1977 Panama Canal treaties, civilians entering the country through U.S. military bases normally must comply with Panamanian immigration formalities. There is a Panamanian immigration facility at Howard, but the delegates did not pass through it.

“We hope to get out to the polling places and observe people voting,” Murtha said. The observer delegation, which consists of 14 official members and seven staffers, “has been instructed not to have any preconceived ideas,” he said. “We’ll let the facts speak for themselves.

“We hold the Panamanian people in high esteem and think they deserve a free vote. We will let the facts speak for themselves,” he said.

A separate, international delegation led by former President Jimmy Carter plans to observe today’s voting in at least 10 cities and towns. Carter and former President Gerald R. Ford on Saturday night conferred with Carlos Duque, thehandpicked presidential candidate of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, and two pro-Noriega vice presidential candidates.

“We told them we are going to win big,” said Aquilino Boyd, the coalition’s candidate for second vice president. Boyd said that, unlike the Carter delegation, the mission sent by Bush had entered Panama “in a clandestine manner” like “spies.”

Panamanian police, commanded by Noriega, blocked some roads leading to U.S. military facilities for several hours Saturday but made no immediate attempt to interfere with the U.S. delegates.

The streets of Panama City were deathly quiet Saturday and some shopkeepers could be seen boarding up shop windows in case of violence.

A ban by the Electoral Tribunal on the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages went into effect Saturday, as did a prohibition on all political activity through the elections and until noon Monday.

Panama’s armed forces appealed for calm and said they would guarantee an orderly election.

“We must avoid internal struggles between brothers and not fall into provocations caused by professionals of anarchy,” junior army officers said in a statement.

Political observers said that if Noriega wished to spark an incident with the United States, the presence of the observer mission could give him an opportunity.

Other officials in the delegation, besides Murtha and Graham, include Sen. John S. McCain, (R-Ariz.), Sen. Connie Mack, (R-Fla.) and California Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino,(R-Ojai).