Panama: The Road to Recovery : Bush Pleased, but Ploy May Force Stalemate

President Bush said Sunday that he is pleased that Manuel A. Noriega sought refuge in the Vatican embassy in Panama, declaring that it means that the dictator’s “reign of terror is over.” But the wily general’s move poses potentially awkward problems for his pursuers.

In a worst-case scenario, officials said, it could produce a long and embarrassing diplomatic stalemate that might result in his escape to another country.

“I am pleased that the general is now under the control of diplomatic authorities. His reign of terror is over,” Bush said in a statement released by White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. “As we work to help return law and order to Panama City, and as the government of President (Guillermo) Endara begins its work, the demise of Gen. Noriega sends a strong signal that freedom and democracy in Panama are on the rise.”

Fitzwater said the Administration is asking the Vatican to turn Noriega over to U.S. or Panamanian authorities.

“The United States will continue to pursue avenues to bringing Gen. Noriega, now located, to justice,” he said.

He said officials are discussing how best to obtain the Vatican’s agreement. “That’s what we’re considering right now,” he said. “. . . We have been in touch with a number of officials relevant to this.”

Under international law, embassies and other diplomatic missions have the right to grant asylum to dissidents or others who seek refuge; U.S. forces cannot pursue Noriega onto the embassy’s premises.

But the Vatican’s response was far from certain. According to an Italian news agency report from Panama, the papal nuncio in Panama City, Bishop Jose Sebastian Laboa, had already refused to turn Noriega over to the U.S. armed forces who invaded the country last week.

“This is going to be a night of many questions and no answers,” a weary White House official said. “Everything remains open. We just want to bring him to justice.”

“There have been contacts on (several) levels between the U.S. and Vatican officials in Washington as well as in Rome,” a State Department official said.

“We don’t expect a third country deal (under which Noriega would find refuge in another country) to emerge,” he said. “We expect that the Pope may have to be in on the decision-making process.”

He indicated that the Administration will try to persuade the pontiff that Noriega’s case “is different from other cases because it is not political, he is not being persecuted for political reasons. He is a criminal just out to save his skin.”

The Pope himself did not hear the news of Noriega’s arrival on his doorstep until after celebrating Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

“There is nothing to say. Later today, we shall see,” said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro.

Tradition might sway the Vatican to allow Noriega to escape. Vatican and other foreign embassies in Latin America have been confronted by dozens of asylum requests during the wars and revolutions of the past decade, and their most frequent response has been to arrange safe passage out of the country.

Noriega has already been offered asylum in two countries, the Dominican Republic and Spain, although those offers were made before the U.S. invasion of Panama last week. In 1988, the Reagan Administration offered the general safe passage to one of those countries if he would voluntarily relinquish power, an offer Noriega walked away from.

The issue is complicated by the fact that the United States is asking for Noriega to be handed over to U.S. authorities for trial before a federal court in Florida--not to Panamanian authorities.

“It’s not clear exactly what the situation is, either diplomatically or legally, at this time,” said David Runkel, a special assistant to Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh. “Our interest remains the same--bringing this man to trial in the United States if that’s possible.”

However, earlier Sunday, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney raised the possibility that the United States might agree to allow Noriega to be prosecuted in Panama instead. Panama normally does not allow its citizens to be extradited to the United States.

“If he were to be captured in Panama and arrested, then I suppose we’d have to sit down at that point and decide whether he was going to be brought back to the United States, extradited if you will, or whether he would be prosecuted in Panama,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley.”

Much will depend on the attitude of the Endara government, officials said. The Vatican was one of the first countries to extend tacit recognition to the Endara government; the papal nuncio, Bishop Jose Sebastian Laboa, met with Endara last week.

Ironically, Endara himself took refuge at the nuncio’s residence until shortly before the U.S. invasion last week.

Even if Noriega settles in for a long stay, some State Department officials consoled themselves with the thought that it might be better than the alternative.

“Look at it this way,” said one. “It’s not the worst-case scenario. He could be out in the hills, leading a guerrilla movement of resistance against the U.S. occupation. This way, at least he’s admitted that he’s a fugitive from justice.”

A group of senior State Department officials was meeting Sunday evening to consider the Administration’s legal and diplomatic options, officials said.

The officials reportedly included Undersecretary of State Robert M. Kimmitt, Assistant Secretary of State Bernard W. Aronson and Legal Adviser Abraham Sofaer.

Because of the Christmas holiday, President Bush and his senior advisers were out of Washington, with Bush at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., and Secretary of State James A. Baker III visiting his family in Houston. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney was visiting American troops in Panama.

The United States has frequently extended asylum in its embassies to prominent dissidents in Communist countries--sometimes for long periods. Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi has been living in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing since June, although Chinese authorities seek him for treason. In the 1950s, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, sheltered Cardinal Josef Mindszenty, the Catholic primate of Hungary, for 15 years.

The concept of diplomatic asylum is different from the sanctuary that churches provided to fugitives in medieval days. Asylum in embassies in generally provided solely to political dissidents. “The ancient concept is that a church provides sanctuary.” said the Rev. George Regas, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, who has been active in the modern sanctuary movement, providing shelter to emigrants from Central America.

“It usually is not sanctuary for someone fleeing from the law as it is for someone who is obeying a higher law out of conscience. Noriega does not fit that bill, I don’t think. So the church would have to decide on what grounds it would give sanctuary. It’s a very complicated legal issue.”

Staff writer William D. Montalbano in Rome contributed to this story, as did staff writers John M. Broder, James Gerstenzang, Robert L. Jackson, Jill Stewart and Robin Wright in Washington.