Hitches Slow Panama-U.S. Tent City Rush : Cubans: Despite the problems, American forces are completing the arrangements to house 10,000. First groups may arrive as early as Tuesday.

The issue was babies.

A roomful of U.S. military planners preparing for the arrival here of 10,000 Cuban boat people was trying to figure out how to prevent babies from being born at four tent cities that will house them for up to six months.

“What’s the legal issue on babies born in Panama or in the canal-operating zone?” Brig. Gen. James L. Wilson, commander of the operation, asked his people.

A legal affairs officer offered: “(Our) determination is . . . that the wisdom is to pre-screen these people so that no such issue arises.”

The answer was greeted with a skeptical round of guffaws.

The baby question illustrates the complexities confronting the governments of Panama and the United States as the two embark on Operation Safe Haven, the transfer of thousands of Cubans from the overcrowded U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a jungle refuge on U.S. military bases along the Panama Canal.

As Panama becomes the first country, outside of the United States, to shelter Cuban refugees, a host of political, legal and diplomatic entanglements looms.

American officials have assured Panamanians that the Cubans will be wards of the U.S. government and not a burden on Panama. But a baby born to a Cuban in one of the camps is entitled to Panamanian citizenship.

To solve the dilemma, the American military planners are contemplating having to airlift any women who become pregnant at the camps back to Guantanamo to deliver their babies.

The new administration of Panamanian President Ernesto Perez Balladares, risking domestic opposition but eager to cooperate with Washington, said last week that it would accept the Cubans, and a formal agreement is to be announced today.

American troops were working round the clock this weekend, with time out for torrential rains Saturday, to erect hundreds of tents in four camps along a stretch of the Panama Canal called Empire Range, an old firing range covered with pampas grass and jungle forest.

The Cuban detainees, who could arrive as early as Tuesday, will not be allowed to leave the fenced-in camps. The United States has agreed to assume all costs of their presence in Panama and to assume responsibility for eventually removing them.

Perez’s decision to accept the Cubans reverses recent Panamanian policy and has incurred the wrath of Cuba--a traditional ally, especially of Perez’s left-of-center Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the onetime political arm of dictator Manuel A. Noriega.

But Perez appears to be hoping his government’s gesture will gain U.S. favor and help him convince dubious U.S. officials that his party has matured beyond the Noriega years, is committed to democracy and can be enlisted as a partner on a humanitarian mission.

Panama’s former President Guillermo Endara, installed by the invading U.S. troops that ousted Noriega in 1989, agreed to take Haitian boat people several months ago, then reneged on the plan in the face of domestic opposition. Diplomats said the shift showed Perez’s determination to please Washington, even if it means alienating Havana--at least temporarily.

“It’s ironic. The Endara government, which was seen as a product of U.S. intervention, was more reluctant (to take refugees), while this government is more than willing,” a South American diplomat said. “Perez Balladares wants to show that the PRD has been remade, that he does not follow the path of the old PRD.”

Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, in Panama City to attend Perez’s inauguration, said his government “regretted” Panama’s decision, adding that it encourages more boat people.

As of Friday, the American military had completed construction of one camp and was making progress on the second. Each can house up to 2,500 people. During a tour of Camp One, The Times saw row upon row of new olive-green sleeping tents, each equipped with cots. The camp will have a clinic, a softball field and a mess hall, and each will be commanded by a military officer.

The military hopes to set up limited self-rule in the camps, with the detainees electing mayors. For now, the camps are not enclosed by concertina barbed wire and the military police who patrol them will not be armed, Army spokesmen said. However, if the detainees riot or other violence break outs, these practices are likely to change.

“Our goal is to get them involved in the camp infrastructure,” announced Lt. Col. Jim Greenwood, who will be the commander of Camp One. “We want them to feel ownership of this. If you get people involved and they take ownership, it’ll be very important to our success here.”

Officers from the Panama-based U.S. Southern Command, which is overseeing Operation Safe Haven, are careful to refer to the Cubans as “migrants” to distinguish them from political refugees who have different rights.

Unlike in Guantanamo, relatives or other visitors will have easy access to the Cubans in Panama. The military is setting up “locater services” at each camp to find people when their relatives come to visit. But the camp residents cannot be released.

Panamanian officials are said to be especially worried about protests that might be staged by Cuban Americans demanding the freedom of their countrymen, and this is one topic that was being hammered out in meetings this weekend.

“The Panamanians want to give minimal aperture for any Cuban American from Miami to come and raise hell,” said an American official familiar with the negotiations between Washington and Panama City. “They want to make clear this is completely a U.S. show.”

The decision to accept the Cubans has provoked negative newspaper editorials in Panama City, and on Saturday the legislature demanded an explanation of why it wasn’t consulted.

But the controversy has been less than that caused by the announcement that Haitian boat people would be housed at the bases. Prejudice and concern that the Haitians would be a burden on Panama fueled the earlier debate.

But many Panamanians seem less afraid of Cubans, who are closer to them culturally, than the Haitians, who were perceived as poorer and from a more distant culture of different language and religion.