U.S. Hinting at Unilateral Action Against Noriega

WASHINGTON — The Bush Administration, maintaining that Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega will become an international “outlaw” unless he transfers power to a democratic government, hinted Thursday that it might act unilaterally to try to unseat the dictator.

The Administration also accused Noriega’s regime of sheltering Colombian drug traffickers, laundering drug money and allowing Panama to serve as a channel for drug shipments, actions it said were comparable to aggression by Adolf Hitler 50 years ago.

The new strategy reflects the failure of the Organization of American States to negotiate terms under which Panama would return to civilian democratic rule following Noriega’s brutal repression of an opposition victory in presidential elections May 7.

Acting Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, addressing a meeting of the foreign ministers of the 31-nation organization, signaled the Administration’s shift in emphasis from human rights abuses by the Panamanian regime to the drug crisis now consuming Colombia.

“Countries that provide safe haven or support for the international drug trafficking cartels menace the peace and security of this hemisphere, just as surely as if they were using their own military forces to attack our societies,” Eagleburger declared.

“Gen. Noriega has turned Panama into a haven for drug traffickers and a center for money laundering and the transshipment of cocaine,” he continued. “Will Gen. Noriega be permitted falsely to wrap himself in the flag of Panamanian sovereignty while the drug cartels with which he is allied intervene throughout this hemisphere? That is aggression as surely as Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland 50 years ago.”

Noriega was indicted last year by two federal grand juries in Florida on charges of involvement in drug trafficking.

If power is not transferred to a civilian government by Sept. 1, the date the Panamanian constitution says a new president should take office, “the Noriega regime will have declared itself to be an outlaw among civilized nations, and we should treat it accordingly,” Eagleburger said.