Panama Seizes U.S. Soldiers at Fort : Americans React by Blocking Entrance to Noriega Offices

Panamanian military authorities arrested American soldiers at Ft. Amador today, and U.S. troops then blocked the entrance to the area where Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega has offices.

Col. Ronald Sconyers, spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command, refused to give any details of the arrests, saying only that a “plural number” of U.S. military personnel were detained in the Ft. Amador area.

The action was in apparent retaliation for the detention by U.S. authorities of 29 Panamanians, including nine military personnel, on Tuesday.

Ft. Amador is a joint-use area that includes barracks for Panamanian troops, a building where Noriega has an office, several Southern Command offices, a U.S. naval station and a golf course and clubs used by U.S. personnel.

After the U.S. soldiers were arrested, four U.S. armored personnel carriers blocked the entrance, and witnesses said several Panamanians were arrested. Civilians were allowed to come and go, but Panamanian military personnel were refused entry.

Sources said Noriega, the de facto leader of Panama and commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces, was not at his office in Ft. Amador today.

The Southern Command sent a message asking Panamanian military authorities to come to the entrance, said the sources, who demanded anonymity.

Blocking the entrance delayed a Panamanian anti-terrorist unit from holding an exercise at the National Bank of Panama, a 15-story building in Panama City. The unit was unable to take trucks and other equipment out of Ft. Amador.

A few dozen troops from the two countries lined a street that divides nearby Quarry Heights, where Southern Command headquarters is located, from Panama City.

The Southern Command said the 29 Panamanians were detained for one hour and 15 minutes Tuesday because they entered a joint-use military area without authorization. The group included four military officers, one of them Maj. Manuel Sieiro, Noriega’s brother-in-law.