Vatican Cites World Law, Won’t Yield Noriega to U.S.

The Vatican, citing international law, said today that it will not simply push Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega out of its embassy in Panama and hand him over to U.S. authorities.

President Bush, in Corpus Christi, Tex., for the start of a six-day hunting and fishing vacation, said he was unaware of the Vatican statement. But “that complicates things if they said that,” Bush said when asked about it by reporters.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro also said the Vatican has not discussed with any countries the possibility of arranging exile for Noriega, who turned himself in to the Vatican Embassy in Panama City on Sunday.

Cuba, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have been reported to be contenders for accepting the ousted Panamanian leader.

“It’s too soon,” Navarro told a news briefing. He added that “as of this moment,” the Vatican has not made a decision about Noriega’s bid for asylum status.

Navarro was pressed repeatedly about Bush Administration assertions that the U.S. officials have forcefully demanded that Noriega be turned over to U.S. authorities so he can be tried on drug-trafficking charges.

“The United States has put its case very clearly and with respect and very cordially,” Navarro said.

The Vatican presented its case “with the same clarity,” Navarro said.

“Taking into account international law and accepted procedure, I don’t see how the embassy can hand over someone” to a nation other than the host country, he said. He added that the Panamanian government installed last week has not requested that Noriega be handed over to it.

The Vatican spokesman declined to comment on the U.S. criminal accusations against Noriega.

But, Navarro said, “he has also been head of government and of the armed forces. There’s something more than a criminal case here.”

Earlier, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Texas that Noriega “can talk about the CIA and Bush until he’s blue in the face. It won’t hurt anything.”

He was referring to things Noriega might reveal about his previous close relations with the U.S. government, including the period in the 1970s when Bush was CIA director and Noriega was an intelligence source.

Bush, taking questions yelled above the roar of helicopter rotors at a naval air station, said there will be “no time limit” on negotiations over Noriega.

The President defended his decision to take the year-end vacation in view of the Panama situation, claiming that he does not think it amounts to shirking his responsibility as chief executive during a time of crisis.

“I’m not concerned about that at all. Why should I be?” he said. “Things have gone well. It’s winding down.”

Bush said he will stay in constant touch with his national security advisers in Washington by telephone, “by secure link,” and he noted that Secretary of State James A. Baker III had come along with him for part of the vacation.

“Look, I don’t make any cover. I’m going to be enjoying myself and I think the American people understand that,” he said. “I think I’ve worked pretty hard all year.”