Panama Rescinds Offer to House Haiti Refugees : Caribbean: Abrupt reversal sends U.S. officials scrambling to make other arrangements for 10,000 people.

The Clinton Administration struggled Thursday to salvage its latest Haiti policy, thrown into disarray by Panamanian President Guillermo Endara’s abrupt cancellation of an agreement to accept up to 10,000 refugees picked up at sea.

Endara’s decision, announced at a Panama City news conference, came less than 24 hours before the U.S. government had planned to open a Panama camp with the first 500 Haitians transferred from temporary quarters at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Panamanian leader, installed in 1989 after a U.S. invasion deposed former dictator Manuel A. Noriega, had been under intense pressure from business and political interests in his country who opposed housing the refugees. He said Washington changed the conditions of the agreement, and accused the Administration of pressuring him excessively to go along with it despite the changes.

“They scolded us as if we were little children,” Endara said in an interview with Cable News Network’s Spanish-language service. “They tried to intimidate us and pressure us, when we were simply trying to do them a favor. Instead of treating us like friends, they treated us like enemies.”

In Washington, President Clinton’s special envoy to Haiti, William H. Gray III, conceded that Panama’s withdrawal was a serious blow, but he vowed to sign up other countries, probably Caribbean island republics, to take up the slack.

He said that agreements in principle have been reached with Grenada, Dominica and Antigua. He did not know exactly when refugee camps on those islands will be ready, but he predicted: “They will be up and running very shortly.”

All Haitian refugees plucked from the seas will be accommodated, although the 10,000 spots in Panama will be very difficult to replace, he said.

“The policy will go forward . . . and we expect that it will be successful,” Gray told a State Department news conference, delayed for almost four hours while the Administration struggled to deal with Endara’s bombshell. “We will be able to provide for those who would be going to Panama.”

An American official familiar with the negotiations said that Endara originally was pleased with the deal but that he shied away when domestic opposition began to mount.

“He miscalculated a lot of things,” the official said. “He broke it to the newspaper owners but had done nothing to prepare the public. There’s a little bit of xenophobia (in Panama), and a lot of racism where Caribbean blacks are concerned. He got cold feet, and he could not be persuaded to change his mind. He dug in and became intransigent.”

Endara will be succeeded in September by President-elect Ernesto Perez Balladares, who greeted the refugee plan coolly. He said that the United States should bear the responsibility of caring for the Haitian refugees and that their stay must be for a definite, short period and not open-ended.

Earlier in the day, the Administration had announced that it would double from six to 12 the number of immigration inspectors assigned to interview potential refugees on the ground in Haiti in an effort to speed the handling of asylum seekers following Washington’s preferred course.

The Administration wants Haitians who fear political persecution to apply for asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince or at two provincial locations rather than risk fleeing the island nation by sea. The White House has announced that only Haitians who apply “in country” will be considered for admission to the United States.

“We will have doubled our staff in country by the beginning of next week, and we hope soon thereafter to further increase the number of people there so that we can cut through the backlog,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie S. Gorelick. “We are trying to enhance our ability to address people’s asylum claims in country.”

Gorelick said potential refugees who apply in Haiti are subjected to “a fairly rigorous review, consistent with U.S. law and standards, to determine whether individuals have a legitimate and well-founded fear of persecution based upon their membership in a social group, a political group (or) national origin.”

It is a time-consuming process and can be dangerous, because Haitians who visit the embassy could be subject to reprisals. Thousands of Haitians have sought to circumvent the procedure by putting to sea in small boats, knowing that the U.S. Coast Guard is poised to pick them up. The Administration had hoped to send such refugees to Panama, where they would face spartan conditions intended to lessen the attraction of the camps as an alternative to life in Haiti.

Doris Meissner, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said before Endara’s announcement that the camps would be virtual prison compounds.

“These are closed camps,” she said. “Their basic needs will be provided for, (and) they will be safe. But they will not be able to work, they will not be receiving money of any kind and they will be allowed to stay in the camp in Panama (only) until political conditions in Haiti improve to the point that it’s safe for their return.”

The Coast Guard intercepted at least 1,537 Haitians in 34 boats Wednesday, bringing the total to more than 15,000 since June 15. About 10,000 Haitians are now at Guantanamo Bay, and 3,200 more are aboard American ships headed to the U.S. base in Cuba. The Pentagon said the capacity of the Guantanamo Bay facility will be increased to 20,000 to compensate for the loss of the Panama camps.

Elsewhere Thursday, a contingent of 2,000 Marines boarded warships at Morehead City, N.C., as part of a four-ship amphibious-ready group ordered to station off Haiti. Officials said the Marines are intended to evacuate American citizens should conditions grow dramatically worse.

Separately, officials here confirmed that U.S. Army Rangers and Navy SEAL commandos conducted secret exercises near Eglin Air Force Base in Florida two weeks ago to rehearse the possible seizure of airfields and ports in Haiti should the President order such an attack.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report from San Salvador.