Noriega Will Face Charges in 10 Deaths : Panama: The new government prepares a case growing out of the October coup attempt. : Three-way talks could end soon with his arrest.

The new government of Panama prepared murder charges Sunday against Manuel A. Noriega and took part in intense negotiations with the Vatican and the Bush Administration over the fate of the deposed dictator, who is holed up in the Vatican’s embassy here.

The impending charges, stemming from the deaths of 10 officers involved in an Oct. 3 military revolt against Noriega, were announced by Atty. Gen. Rogelio Cruz. He said they will be filed “Tuesday or earlier” as legal grounds for asking the Vatican to relinquish Noriega for trial in Panama.

But other Panamanian officials said that the three-way talks, which began here Saturday, pointed to a possible agreement to put Noriega in brief Panamanian custody before handing him over to American military forces for trial in the United States on two drug-related indictments.

While foreign diplomats warned that obstacles remain, spokesmen for President Guillermo Endara and the Roman Catholic Church in Panama said the three-way talks--involving a special Vatican envoy from Rome--are advancing and could end soon with Noriega’s arrest.

“It’s wishful thinking that could be coming true,” presidential “ spokesman Luis Martinz said. “The Vatican has strongly indicated it is willing to turn Noriega over.”

He added: “Things in Panama happen very quickly. It could be the next hour. It could be the next day.”

Panama’s Roman Catholic primate, Archbishop Marcos G. McGrath, told reporters that some agreement “is beginning to become possible and perhaps proximate.”

Later, his spokesman, Father Fernando Guardia, said that talks are focusing on the security aspects of Noriega’s proposed transfer.

Noriega slipped into the Vatican nunciature here on Christmas Eve. That came four days after U.S. troops invaded Panama, installed a civilian government led by Endara and launched a nationwide manhunt for the fallen strongman.

The Vatican granted Noriega temporary sanctuary at its seaside diplomatic compound, which was quickly ringed by American troops. Last week, the Vatican appeared to rebuff President Bush’s request to turn Noriega over to American forces, saying there appeared to be a political basis for his bid for asylum.

Though reluctant to give Noriega directly to a foreign occupying power, Vatican officials have repeatedly indicated a willingness to give him to Panamanian authorities.

But Endara has made no such formal request and pointedly rejected the risky prospect of trying to hold Noriega in a Panamanian jail for a trial by a Panamanian legal system that became virtually inoperative with the American invasion.

Another problem is that Panama’s 1904 extradition treaty with Washington does not cover the drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges against Noriega contained in two federal indictments returned in Florida. This appears to pose a legal hurdle for getting Noriega into U.S. custody.

Some of those obstacles seemed to be dissolving over the weekend.

On Saturday, Panama’s 12 Catholic bishops, headed by Archbishop McGrath, told Pope John Paul II in a letter that Noriega is guilty of “abominable crimes” and that uncertainty over his future has “morally impeded” a peaceful and orderly return to democracy here.

Apparently in response, the Vatican issued a statement that it is seeking “a just and acceptable solution” to the problem. It emphasized that asylum was given to Noriega “not to obstruct the course of justice but to contribute to the end of a conflict that has already claimed many victims.”

The archbishop’s spokesman said that the Vatican appears to have denied Noriega political or diplomatic asylum.

“We can interpret that statement as a change in the Vatican position,” the spokesman said. “This says that the Holy See doesn’t see Noriega as a political guest but (as) a man accused of grave crimes. The Vatican does not give asylum to common criminals. This gives the papal nuncio freedom to ask him to leave” the Vatican embassy.

To give the Vatican a legal basis for acting, Panama’s attorney general--who was in only his third day on the job--announced Sunday that an investigation into the deaths of the leaders of the October coup attempt is “nearly complete.”

Asked if the new government has enough information to implicate Noriega directly in the officers’ deaths, Cruz said, “Yes, there is evidence.”

Cruz told a news conference: “We will ask whomever has Noriega to turn him over to Panama so he can be brought to trial.”

At the same time, he asserted that it is legally possible to extradite Noriega to the United States under a little-used 1938 inter-American extradition treaty ratified by both countries. The treaty does not limit the charges for which a person can be sent from one country to another to stand trial, Cruz said.

Saying that he knew of no formal request by the Bush Administration, Cruz declined to speculate on the possibility of extraditing Noriega to the United States.

In any case, presidential spokesman Martinz indicated that Panama would not be overly concerned about legal niceties if it got its hands on Noriega.

“We’d hold him for about 30 seconds” before turning him over to the Americans, he said.

Whatever happens, Cruz said the murder investigation will go forward.

Noriega was captured during the October rebellion when the rebels, led by Maj. Moises Giroldi, chief of Noriega’s security company, seized the headquarters of the Panama Defense Forces. Noriega negotiated with his captors until loyalist units attacked and forced the rebels to surrender.

The government announced that 10 of the rebels, including Giroldi, had been killed in the fighting. None of the loyalist soldiers died.

Cruz said that the 10 were “executed after they surrendered in a place away from the site where they gave up.”

The attorney general also said he is investigating possible drug-trafficking charges against Noriega in Panama as well as the Noriega government’s nullification of the May 7 presidential elections. By most accounts, Endara won that vote by a 3-to-1 margin.

Cruz said that charges would be filed against former members of the Electoral Council and other officials who “tried to block the orderly renewal of government powers.”

He said that other, unspecified, charges may be filed against Noriega and that other high-ranking officers may also be charged in connection with the October coup leaders’ deaths.

Sunday night, about 200 Panamanians gathered for a candlelight vigil at a barricade manned by U.S. soldiers near the Vatican embassy. They wished the troops Happy New Year and hung an effigy of Noriega from a palm tree.

“We are here to pray that they take that animal out of the nunciature because he doesn’t deserve to be in there,” said Jose Maria Gonzalez, a dentist long active in anti-Noriega political movements.