Panama City Curfew Eased as Calm Grows; Troops Still Pursue Snipers

Authorities decided to ease the dusk-to-dawn curfew in the capital today in a sign that pro-Noriega resistance is waning, but a U.S. military spokesman reported sporadic fighting overnight and warned that American troops were still pursuing snipers.

Security remained tight around the Vatican Embassy where deposed strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega took refuge Christmas Eve. American troops in army green ponchos stood at their stations through an early-morning rain while a U.S. A-37 Dragonfly circled continuously over the area.

“We have a sense of obligation to ensure that should Mr. Noriega leave that area, we are prepared to take him into custody, as was one of our original goals,” Lt. Col. Jerry Murguia, an Army spokesman, told a morning news conference.

Gen. Maxwell Thurman, head of the U.S. Southern Command, sped up to the Vatican Embassy today in a six-vehicle convoy that included three armored cars. He huddled in a gray sedan with Vatican Papal Nuncio Sebastion Laboa.

Thurman and Laboa talked in the street outside the tree-ringed Spanish-style embassy for about 40 minutes Christmas Day. Diplomats said today that there was little information on the progress of the talks, and one foreign military observer said, “There seems to be a freeze in the situation at the moment.”

In Rome, Vatican Radio called the Noriega situation today “particularly delicate, given that Gen. Noriega, actively sought by the American occupation forces, has taken refuge in the Holy See’s embassy.”

The Italian news agency ANSA said U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Thomas Miledy was received today by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, despite the fact that it is a holiday in Italy.

For a second day, dozens of Panamanians gathered at a U.S. military roadblock set up about a block from the Vatican Embassy, carrying signs and waving white flags to oppose any political asylum for Noriega.

Officials of the U.S. Southern Command said the government of U.S.-installed President Guillermo Endara was easing a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew that has been in effect since American forces intervened in the country last Wednesday. Officials said the new curfew would be from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. They also said checkpoints would be set up during the day with vehicles subject to search.