Combat In Panama : Noriega Aide Is Surprise Defector : Military: Officer says he ended his rebellion and recognized the U.S.-installed government ‘to avoid a massacre of Panamanian citizens and soldiers.’

When U.S. military forces invaded Panama, troops led by Lt. Col. Luis A. del Cid, a close associate of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, freed 180 common criminals from their barracks jail in this provincial city, blew several craters in the local airstrip and fled into the jungle to organize a resistance struggle.

But Saturday, after three days of telephone negotiations with the U.S. Southern Command in Panama City, Del Cid, the local army commander, said he had ended his rebellion and recognized the U.S.-installed government in order “to avoid a massacre of Panamanian citizens and soldiers.”

The agreement was part of a wider collapse of support for Noriega among the Panama Defense Forces he commanded until his own flight to an unknown hide-out a step ahead of the invasion forces. Under peace accords mediated by the Roman Catholic Church, four other PDF commanders pledged loyalty to President Guillermo Endara and were allowed, at least temporarily, to retain their posts.

Of all the defections from Noriega, the most surprising was that of Del Cid, commander of the 1,000-man 5th Military Region in this westernmost province of Chiriqui. Del Cid, 45, won the post after more than a decade of service as Noriega’s personal secretary.

A key member of the general’s inner circle, Del Cid was believed to have had as much to lose as Noriega in the invasion. Last year he was indicted with Noriega on U.S. charges of drug trafficking, allegedly for serving as his boss’s personal contact with the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia.

His defection came to light Friday when a white flag was raised at his camouflage-painted jungle headquarters. The radio broadcast an order to his troops to return to duty and to paramilitary Dignity Battalions to surrender their weapons.

Within hours, hundreds of men in civilian clothes filed into the command post--past a Christmas Nativity scene on the lawn--to deposit Soviet-made AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers. Witnesses said the army paid them $150 for each rifle.

Hundreds of supporters of President Endara quickly gathered there to jeer the paramilitary troopers and beat on the hoods of their cars. Chanting “God bless America” in English, they waved Panamanian and U.S. flags in an all-day celebration that turned into drunken but harmless revelry by Friday night.

Looking tired and somber, Del Cid met Saturday with reporters in his office, which is crammed with television monitors, wooden knickknacks and religious figurines. Over and over, he emphasized the futility of fighting an American invasion.

“I said to my men in the jungle: ‘Look, we’re alone. Alone. We don’t have the support of a single foreign country. There is nobody to help us,’ ” he recalled.

To a questioner who pressed him on his motives, he asked: “Do you have children? Well, I have 10 children. They all would have died if we had resisted. What we did here was to save lives and save Chiriqui. The whole province would have been destroyed.

“The people of Chiriqui can now thank God for this attitude of ours and feel safe and sound that we are not going to be invaded by the United States Army,” Del Cid added.

He brushed off suggestions that he made peace with the Americans to quash his indictment or to keep command of Chiriqui and thus to protect Noriega, who is rumored to be hiding in the mountainous jungle that sweeps upward from this sweltering lowland city of 80,000.

However, he confirmed that he had asked American authorities to investigate him in Panama on the drug charges rather than arrest him for extradition to the United States. He claimed he is innocent of wrongdoing and said the Americans had not replied to his request.

He also asserted that he had not seen or heard from Noriega since “days before” the invasion. Asked whether the deposed general would fight to the death, Del Cid replied: “How do I know what’s going on inside his head?”

Del Cid estimated that about 200 of the regular troops under his command are holding out in the jungle and a few hundred members of the Dignity Battalion are still resisting the American invasion. But he insisted that about 1,000 troops loyal to the new government had “full control” of the province. He estimated that it would take up to five days to collect weapons from the remaining paramilitary forces.

The church-mediated arrangement has kept the city of David peaceful, in contrast to widespread looting and fire fights in Panama City. Although the freed criminals were not rounded up again, no looting has been reported here, and stores reopened Saturday after being closed for three days because of fear of violence.

Policemen in the Defense Forces patrolled the streets and chatted with Christmas shoppers hauling armloads of gifts and Christmas trees in the heavy traffic downtown.

Nonetheless, some politicians and residents here said they were skeptical that peace will last in Chiriqui Provence.

Rodrigo Miranda, an activist in the Authentic Panamanista Party, said he suspected that Del Cid is concealing arms for pro-Noriega guerrillas and still trying to protect Noriega.

“Where are all the arms that entered the country in the last few months?” asked Miranda.