Noriega Ordered Attack, Envoy Says : U.S. Ambassador Calls on Panamanians to Topple Regime

U.S. Ambassador Arthur Davis, recalled for consultations with President Bush, today accused military leader Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega of directing his supporters to kill an opposition leader during an attack on a protest rally last week.

Davis, in a statement issued before returning to Washington, said the Panamanian military should topple Noriega, echoing a call made by Bush after the attack on the opposition rally and the annulment of the May 7 election.

“What happened was a deliberate Noriega-directed attempt on the life of one of the candidates,” Davis said. “From eyewitness reports and from the evidence of the wound suffered by the bodyguards of second vice presidential winner Guillermo Ford, the attack was meant to kill him.”

Ford and other candidates and supporters of the Civil Democratic Opposition Alliance were beaten by members of the pro-Noriega paramilitary squad during a rally Wednesday that was called to protest fraud and violence in the election.

Davis said only “the courage and quick thinking” of Ford’s bodyguards saved him. He quoted witnesses and reports of gunshot wounds suffered by Ford’s bodyguards as evidence but declined to elaborate. One of Ford’s bodyguards died in the attack. The government has accused Ford’s bodyguards of firing on a group of Noriega supporters.

“Nor should anyone be mistaken about who carried out the attack. There is clear evidence Noriega’s goons did it,” Davis said.

Davis echoed a call by Bush for the 15,000-man Panamanian Defense Forces to overthrow Noriega but said, “I do not have that many contacts any more . . . to incite a rebellion.” He said most people agreed that the best way to remove Noriega “would be for his own Panamanian Defense Forces to take care of it.”

Anti-Noriega demonstrators Sunday waved white handkerchiefs and shouted “justice, justice” in churches across Panama. The protests appeared to indicate further distancing of Panama’s powerful Catholic Church hierarchy from Noriega,