U.S. Envoy Accuses Noriega of Order for Murder of Opposition Candidate

U.S. Ambassador Arthur Davis on Monday accused Gen. Manuel A. Noriega of ordering the assassination of opposition leader Guillermo (Billy) Ford at an anti-government demonstration last week. Ford was badly injured at the demonstration.

Davis made the charge at a news conference before leaving for Washington. He was summoned for “consultations” by President Bush after Panamanian military and security forces last Wednesday violently attacked a demonstration led by Guillermo Endara, Ford and Ricardo Arias Calderon.

Endara is the presidential candidate of the anti-Noriega coalition called the Democratic Alliance of Civic Opposition; Ford and Arias Calderon are his vice presidential running mates. Noriega, head of the Panama Defense Forces and Panama’s de facto ruler, backed a different candidate.

Three Beaten; One Killed

All three opposition politicians were severely beaten up. One of Ford’s bodyguards was shot to death, and another was wounded. According to Davis, “what happened was a deliberate, Noriega-directed attempt on the life of one of the candidates.”

“From eyewitness reports and from the evidence of the wounds suffered by the bodyguards,” Davis said, “the attack was meant to kill (Ford). There is clear evidence Noriega’s goons did it.”

When asked about the evidence, Davis, who was appointed ambassador by former President Reagan, replied: “I can’t reveal my sources at this time.”

However, reporters were told later that Davis based his charge on the circumstances of the attack and statements made by doctors who attended the bodyguards and by a man who was with Ford at the time of the incident.

By their accounts, men said to be members of a paramilitary group called the Battalions of Dignity--but in reality disguised members of the Panama Defense Forces--attacked Ford’s car.

Guards Hit by Bullets

They reportedly opened a door of the car and opened fire at the 52-year-old candidate. Ford’s bodyguards threw themselves over him and were hit by several bullets. Ford was dragged into the street and beaten, then taken into custody by uniformed riot policemen.

Why the attackers, if they intended to kill Ford, did not do so on the street is not clear, but sources speculated that this was because of the presence of reporters and television cameras.

Ford, who was jailed and then hospitalized for two days, supports the details of this account but has stopped short of accusing Noriega of ordering an attempt on his life.

Mario Ronone, a close associate of Noriega, said the candidates’ bodyguards opened fire first and that Ford’s man was killed in an ensuing exchange of fire.

Ambassador Davis, who rarely talks with reporters, used the news conference to pursue President Bush’s effort to drive a wedge between Noriega and the Panama Defense Forces.

Appeals to Soldiers

He said he would not refer to Noriega by his military rank, and added: “I do not want my words of condemnation of Noriega . . . to denote condemnation of the entire Panama Defense Forces. . . . I know there are honorable, professional officers and soldiers in the PDF who deplore the cowardly use of violence against their own unarmed population.”

Several diplomats here, including some Americans, have expressed doubt about this approach. They contend that many of the officers in the Defense Forces are as corrupt as Noriega, and that if he is the only one removed, the problem will remain.

“Most of the military leadership has as much to lose as Noriega if an independent civilian government gains control,” one diplomat said. “Bush’s evident belief that Noriega is the only cause for Panama’s problems and his call for a coup d’etat could backfire.”

As for Davis’ suggestion that many officers and men deplore the attacks on the protesters, apparently based on unsubstantiated reports of a split within the PDF, the 15,000-member military force has shown no reluctance to open fire on demonstrators or to illegally detain and mistreat hundreds of suspected opponents.

On Monday in Washington, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said the Administration hopes that the Organization of American States, scheduled to meet Wednesday on the Panama crisis, will “call the situation there for what it is, which is an outrage and an affront to the democratic processes.”

Asked whether U.S. officials are talking with officials in other nations about giving Noriega an exile home should he leave Panama, Fitzwater said: “The United States is aware of other countries that are willing to accept Gen. Noriega, and we have, of course, communicated with these countries over some period of time.” He did not elaborate.

On Monday, Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez said he is working for a negotiated solution to the crisis in Panama, and he offered to grant political asylum to Noriega, the Reuters news service reported.

“Gen. Noriega has not asked me for asylum,” Perez said in a television interview in Caracas. “But if the solution for the Panamanian people is that Gen. Noriega come to Venezuela, then we will accept him. The doors of the country are open.”