Noriega Issues Arrest Warrants for Top U.S. Officers in Panama

The government of Panamanian dictator Gen. Manuel A. Noriega has issued warrants for the arrest of two top American military officers in Panama, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

Accusing the U.S. military officials of “constant harassment to the communities using troops and warlike equipment,” a Panamanian judge on Dec. 11 ordered the arrest of Gen. Maxwell R. Thurman, commander of U.S. forces in Latin America, and his second-ranking aide, Maj. Gen. Marc Cisneros, commander of U.S. troops in Panama. Both are stationed in Panama.

The United States refused to honor the warrants, saying that all American military activities in Panama are legal under the treaties between the two countries.

“These are part of our ordinary exercises, they are part of what we do in Panama, they’re part of our defense of the Panama Canal,” said Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams. “It’s not intended to be harassment; the consequence of it isn’t harassment. So we would reject the premise of the summonses.”

Williams said the movement of troops and vehicles in and around the former Canal Zone are a normal part of U.S. military operations in Panama, “required and allowed” under the canal treaties.

He noted that the United States has jurisdiction over all U.S. military personnel, Defense Department civilians and their dependents in Panama if they allegedly violate Panamanian law in the performance of their official duties.

“And finally,” Williams said, reading from a treaty text, “all agencies and instrumentalities of the U.S. government are immune from the jurisdiction of Panama.”

A U.S. Southern Command officer in Panama said that any move by Panamanian authorities to arrest Thurman and Cisneros would be viewed as “terrorism” and dealt with accordingly.

A State Department official said that the U.S. government views the threatened Panamanian action with “contempt.”

“The regime is the regime,” said the official, who requested anonymity. “Noriega is a lawless individual and the court system reflects his will.”

The contretemps began Dec. 5 when a low-ranking civilian Panamanian magistrate known as a corregidor issued summonses to Thurman and Cisneros, demanding they appear before him to answer the harassment charge.

U.S. military authorities refused to recognize the summonses--called boletas in Spanish--and returned them to Panamanian military officials.

The magistrate reissued the boletas twice more; twice more, the Americans gave them back.

“As a result of their not appearing before the official after three such summonses, a warrant for their arrest was issued. No attempt has been made, as far as we know, by the Panamanian Defense Forces, to serve the warrants,” Williams said.

The United States has about 10,000 military personnel permanently stationed in Panama and 11,000 civilians employed in the operation of the canal and maintaining U.S. military facilities.