Curfew on U.S. personnel amid Panama tension

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 8

Curfew on U.S. personnel amid Panama tension

NZPA-Reuter Panama City The United States Southern Command maintained a curfew on American personnel and forbade them from entering Panama City a day after an American officer was killed, and another wounded by Panamanian forces. There was no immediate comment by the Panamanian Defence Forces (P.D.F.) on new details from the Pentagon about the incident, nor about a U.S. report of the beating of a Navy lieutenant and harassment of his wife, the X! Southern 'Command spokesman said a curfew would be in effect from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. (IficAl time) for a second consecutive night, restricting all American personnel to their bases “Delta will definitely continue,” said Captain Art Haubold, referring to the second-highest of five levels of restriction on personal movement. In Washington, the Pentagon

said security had been tightened after the incidents but at the entrances to several U.S. military installations security appeared to be as it had been in recent weeks. Panama City was quiet but tense. Two trucks and a jeep belonging to the P.D.F. blocked a road near the military headquarters of General Manuel Antonio Noriega, near where the shootings occurred and the couple were stopped. Uniformed and plainclothed soldiers were found through the area, known as Chorrillo. The Panama Canal was working normally, a spokesman said, and had not been affected by the incidents. The Pentagon reported yesterday that the Navy lieutentant and his wife had been stopped at a roadblock near General Noriega’s headquarters about 30 minutes before four officers, one of whom was later killed, were also stopped. The Southern Command reported about five P.D.F. soldiers

tried to pull them out of the car and that the four, dressed in civilian clothes and unarmed, feared for their safety and tried to flee. As they did, the P.D.F. opened fire, killing one and grazing the ankle of another. The P.D.F. gave a sharply conflicting version of the incident and said that two civilians, including a one-year-old girl, as well as a soldier, were injured. It said in a statement that shots were fired from U.S.-registered vehicles, hitting the three, as well as General Noriega’s headquarters. The Pentagon said the Navy lieutenant and his wife saw the incident and were later interrogated, during which the lieutenant was beaten and his wife sexually threatened. The two incidents came a day after the National Assembly declared that Panama was in a state of war and appointed General Noriega head of Government, granting him wide powers to appoint officials and conduct foreign affairs.