COMBAT IN PANAMA : Top Latin Leaders Roundly Condemn U.S. Military Attack : Panama: Officials across the region assail the intervention. They predict a crisis unless American troops withdraw quickly.

Latin American leaders, even those who shared Washington’s aim of ending Gen. Manuel A. Noriega’s dictatorship in Panama, overwhelmingly condemned the U.S. military invasion there Wednesday and refrained from recognizing his American-installed successor.

After a flurry of urgent telephone consultations begun before dawn, officials across the Western Hemisphere declared that the Bush Administration had violated their cherished principle of nonintervention. Although their outrage was muted by what many called Noriega’s infamy as a criminal dictator, they warned that a regional crisis could develop unless U.S. troops withdraw quickly from Panama.

One of the first protests came from Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, a staunch foe of Noriega. He said the U.S. action “revived an era in inter-American relations that was thought to have been surpassed.”

Scattered anti-American street demonstrations were reported from Mexico City to Montevideo.

Nicaragua’s Sandinista rulers, fearful of a related U.S. military attack against them, put their armed forces on a “state of combative general alert” and deployed troops, tanks and anti-aircraft guns in the streets of Managua.

News of the Panama attack stunned Latin Americans. It touched their nationalistic nerve like no other event since American troops swarmed over the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983 and quickly toppled a Marxist government. As in Panama, the official U.S. justification in Grenada was to defend the lives of American citizens.

Unlike some previous U.S. military actions, notably a 1965 intervention in the Dominican Republic, the one in Panama failed to win the support of the Organization of American States.

Meeting in special session in Washington, the OAS refused to seat a representative of the new Panamanian government and met with Noriega’s delegate to the body. It also agreed to consider a motion by Nicaragua, Noriega’s closest regional ally, to denounce the United States.

Until Wednesday, President Bush had received high marks from his Latin neighbors for backing away from military solutions to Central American conflicts, an approach in tune with the recent peaceful changes in Eastern Europe.

Several Latin leaders pointedly remarked Wednesday that Bush was out of step. “We have not been told why, when Europe is on the peaceful road to democratization, force is still used in Latin America,” complained Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo.

President Jose Sarney of Brazil called the U.S. action “a step backward in international relations.”

Mexico urged “an immediate cessation of hostilities” in Panama, even while noting Noriega’s ties to drug traffickers. “Fighting international crime is no excuse for intervention in a sovereign nation,” said a Mexican communique.

Similar condemnation came from Chile’s military government, the civilian coalition elected last week to replace it and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez. Chile expressed concern over blockage of the Panama Canal, a vital waterway for its exports.

But the U.S.-backed government in El Salvador said the United States “was using its legitimate right of defense,” wire services reported.

Vice President Francisco Merino said, “This type of actions could permit the Panamanian people to identify with a democratic process, to reestablish an elected government,” Merino added.

Prime Minister Edna Charles of the island of Dominica, President Ronald Reagan’s most vocal champion during the Grenada invasion, declined to comment on the action in Panama.

In a sign that the dispute could damage U.S. interests in the region, Peruvian President Alan Garcia recalled his ambassador from Washington and suggested postponement of a scheduled Feb. 15 summit among Bush and the leaders of Peru, Colombia and Bolivia to coordinate efforts against drug traffickers.

Several presidents said Bush or Vice President Dan Quayle telephoned them Wednesday morning, not to consult but to inform them of an invasion already under way.

U.S. ambassadors then called on officials in each country to ask them to recognize the just-installed government of Guillermo Endara, who was elected president of Panama by popular vote last May in a vote nullified by Noriega. None did so.

The situation posed a dilemma for some Latin governments. After the Panamanian election was voided, the OAS tried to mediate between Noriega and his foes but was rebuffed by the general and failed to agree on strong diplomatic sanctions sought by the United States and some Latin countries.

Venezuela’s government acknowledged Wednesday that the U.S. invasion resulted from the “lack of an effective and firm response by our countries to the violation of human rights and constitutional norms” in Panama. But it said the U.S. invasion force must go home before Venezuela can recognize Endara’s ability to run the country on his own.

“The Latin Americans are going to have to make political judgments based on how neat and clean or messy the situation in Panama is over the next few days,” said Richard Nuccio, a senior associate at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank of Western Hemisphere leaders and academics. “They must express outrage at a violation of Panama’s sovereignty, but in private they are saying, ‘Thank goodness Noriega is gone.’

“But if American troops have to stay in Panama a long time, fighting a guerrilla war against Noriega’s men or creating a new Panamanian army, then the (Latins’) adherence to principles will be stronger and many of them will not recognize (Endara). That will put them on a collision course with the United States,” Nuccio added.

Reflecting a view held privately by some Latin statesmen, Colombian political analyst Rodrigo Losada called the U.S. intervention “appropriate” because Panamanian democracy had been frustrated by a “situation of force.” He predicted the Americans would withdraw soon, having caused only “temporary tensions” in inter-American relations.

But several Latin American officials said they were uncertain whether Endara could control Panama without long-term U.S. intervention and said they prefer a solution that would include new elections in the near future.

If that does not happen, the U.S. action could play into the hands of the left. Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba declared that the invasion offers “incredible proof of U.S. contempt for international law.” Some officials elsewhere wondered if Bush has turned Noriega into a hero for future generations of Latin guerrillas.

Times staff writers William R. Long in Rio de Janeiro, Don A. Schanche in Miami and Oswald Johnston in Washington contributed to this story.