Panama Assembly Names Noriega Government Chief : Central America: Resolution making general’s powers official also declares ‘state of war’ with the U.S.

Gen. Manuel A. Noriega’s rubber-stamp legislature Friday named him chief executive of Panama and gave him sweeping powers to confront U.S. efforts to oust the combative general.

“The Republic of Panama is declared to be in a state of war while the (U.S.) aggression lasts,” the People’s Assembly said in a resolution.

“To confront this aggression, the job of chief of government of Panama is hereby created, and Manuel Antonio Noriega is designated to carry out these responsibilities as maximum leader for national liberation.”

As head of the government, Noriega holds the same title as the late dictator Gen. Omar Torrijos, his mentor. Torrijos died in a 1981 plane crash, and within two years Noriega gained the real power when he became commander of Panama’s Defense Forces.

The 510 members of the People’s Assembly passed the resolution by acclamation, and Speaker Fermin Herrera swore in Noriega on the spot.

Noriega, 52, already was “coordinator” of the assembly and chief of the Defense Forces.

The assembly gave him power to appoint public officials, control foreign relations, convene the assembly and “make decisions on whatever other matter or unforeseen circumstance” affects the nation’s interests.

Provisional President Francisco Rodriguez’s position was expected to become a largely ceremonial post.

Noriega is wanted in the United States on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges, and Washington has tried to oust him from power for 2 1/2 years with diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions.

He has survived those efforts, however, and military coup attempts in March, 1988, and last October.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said the “state of war” declared by the National Assembly and its naming of Noriega as head of government would have no effect on an already hostile U.S. attitude toward Noriega.

“Today’s action is another hollow step in an attempt to force his rule on the Panamanian people,” Fitzwater said Friday in Washington. “The actions of the National Assembly will not detract the focus from the fact that Noriega has thwarted the desires of the Panamanian people for democratic rule.”

A State Department official said the action “doesn’t mean anything.”

To underscore that view, the Pentagon reported no increase in the alert status of the more than 10,000 American troops in Panama. White House officials regarded the announcement from Panama as so insignificant that they did not immediately inform President Bush after he left the Oval Office early, suffering from a raspy voice.

In Panama City, a few thousand Noriega supporters surrounded the assembly and cheered when it broadened Noriega’s powers.