TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/caps/88/88capmil.8

Text File | 1992-09-25 | 8.0 KB | 154 lines

                                                                                February 15, 1988

NATION

Wanted:  Noriega


The U.S. indicts Panama's strongman for pushing drugs


The ritual was familiar, but the specifics were unprecedented.
When U.S. Attorneys in Miami and Tampa announced two major
criminal indictments last Friday, it was not just another drug
bust. The accused was General Manuel Antonio Noriega, commander
in chief of the Panama Defense Forces and de facto ruler of an
important U.S. ally. He was charged with drug trafficking,
laundering millions of dollars in illicit profits and providing
safe haven for some of the world's most notorious narcotics
barons.

In Tampa, U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle accused Noriega of
conspiring to import and distribute more than 1 million lbs. of
marijuana into the U.S. In Miami, U.S. Attorney Leon Kellner
charged the general with accepting $4.6 million in payoffs for
allowing Colombia's powerful drug cartel to ship more than 4,000
lbs. of cocaine through Panama to the U.S. Noriega also
allegedly permitted the cartel to set up a cocaine-processing
plant in Panama and to temporarily relocate its headquarters
there after the murder of Colombia's Justice Minister in 1985.
The general, Kellner charged, had "utilized his position to
sell the country of Panama to drug traffickers."

Although rumors of the indictments had been circulating for
weeks, no one could be sure that Washington would allow the
unusual prosecution. To stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.,
the Administration has leaned heavily on Latin American
governments to root out the drug moguls, whose guns and money
have intimidated or bought off local authorities. But never
before has the U.S. targeted an individual Latin leader. Coming
just two days after the House of Representatives rejected
further aid to the contras, the criminal charges against Noriega
not only raised the stakes in the war on drugs but presage even
more troubles for the U.S.'s battered Central American policy.

Panama, far more than war-torn Nicaragua, is Central America's
prize. The 51-mile-long canal, still under U.S. control, has
major strategic value; Panama is also one of the U.S.' prime
listening posts in the region and home to the 10,000-man U.S.
Southern Command. To some, the U.S.'s difficulties in Panama
are reminiscent of Iran. Having struck another Faustian bargain
with a ruthless and corrupt dictator, the U.S. again finds
itself turning against a longtime client with no viable
democratic replacement in the wings.

The Reagan Administration and its predecessors have long been
aware of Noriega's seamy dealings. Nonetheless, top officials
in the State and Defense departments and the CIA vigorously
supported him, citing his cooperation with U.S. intelligence
agencies and willingness to let the U.S. military operate
broadly in Panama. Even as the Administration finally took
action, new charges suggested that Noriega played a role in the
Iran-contra arms deal as well. Jose Blandon, until recently
Panama's consul general in New York City and a close political
adviser to Noriega, disclosed that the general had conspired
with Lieut. Colonel Oliver North, the former National Security
Council aide, to dispatch, then intercept, a shipment of East
German arms to El Salvador's leftist guerrillas. The motive: to
blame Nicaragua for supplying the weapons, thereby supporting
the charge that the Sandinistas are exporting their revolution.

Even by the standards set by the Shah and Ferdinand Marcos,
Noriega's record is infamous. The diminutive general, whose
acne-scarred complexion earned him the nickname "Pineapple
Face," has been accused in Panama of ordering both the
decapitation of a political opponent and the murder of the son
of the man he replaced as commander of the armed forces. Rising
through the ranks, Noriega allegedly created a criminal
organization that would be the envy of any Mafia don. The
12,000-man Panama Defense Forces are so much a part of
Noriega's criminal empire that U.S. Attorney Kellner considered
classifying the entire institution as a corrupt organization.
According to investigators for the Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Affairs,
which will hold hearings this week, Noriega demands a cut of
almost every crime- related dollar deposited in Panama's 130
banks. Drug traffickers and money launderers who refuse to pay
may have their shipments hijacked at gunpoint.

Those who play along are well cared for. Steven Kalish, a
convicted U.S. drug smuggler who was the chief witness against
Noriega in the Tampa indictment says he personally delivered at
least $900,000 in bribes to the general in 1983 and 1984. In
exchange, says Kalish, Noriega gave him a diplomatic passport,
a multimillion-dollar letter of credit and safe passage for
hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana.

Noriega may have been motivated by greed far more than loyalty
to any ideology. While a valued point man for the CIA, he
enjoyed close relations with Cuban Leader Fidel Castro. Blandon
says he personally witnessed a 1984 meeting in Havana at which
Castro mediated a dispute between Noriega and the leaders of a
major Colombian drug cartel. According to Blandon, as well as
U.S. Customs investigators, Noriega has supplied Cuba with U.S.
intelligence and high-technology goods. In Central America, the
general has sold weapons both to Nicaragua's anti-Communist
contras and to Marxist guerrillas in El Salvador. "He is a
businessman," declares Blandon. "Contras, Sandinistas, Cubans,
the CIA--he deals with them all to make money."

Until Blandon, Kalish and others provided direct evidence of
Noriega's criminal activities, American officials were divided
over what to do about him. As early as 1972, a U.S. narcotics
agent proposed his "total and complete immobilization"--meaning
assassination. But the agent's superior rejected the idea.
Last March, when Senators Jesse Helms of North Carolina and John
Kerry of Massachusetts introduced a resolution condemning Panama
for its poor showing in the war on drugs, Assistant Attorney
General Stephen Trott protested that the Panamanian record was
"superb."

U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab begs to differ.
"Occasionally they swing some poor slob out to make us feel
they're cooperating," he says. "But it's nobody close to
Noriega."  Von Raab condemns the view that a pact with the devil
is better than no pact at all:  "At some point you become owned
by the devil."

Those days presumably ended with last week's indictment. In
effect, it will prevent Noriega from traveling to the U.S.,
where he would be arrested. Noriega would face the same risk
in France, where he keeps an apartment, and in other countries
that have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

The State Department has been trying for some time to persuade
the general to step down in favor of a caretaker government that
would pave the way for new elections. The indictment may make
it more difficult for Noriega to arrange a graceful exit, though
in any event the general has show no sign of wanting to step
down. Panama's Foreign Ministry last week released a
predictable statement condemning the "new attack" against
Noriega and questioning the credibility of Blandon and the other
witnesses. The same day, 200 anti-Noriega demonstrators in
downtown Panama City called for the general's resignation. Yet
with anti-U.S. sentiment never far from the surface in Panama,
the indictment may actually inspire support for Noriega.

Complicating matters ar the U.S. citizens--10,000 troops and
40,000 civilians--living in Panama. Although U.S. officials do
not see an immediate threat, diplomats and military officers are
urging Americans to be careful. "We're heading into a very,
very rocky period," says an Administration official. The U.S.
has pushed a thuggish ally into a corner, and now it can only
wait guardedly for his reaction.

--By Laurence Zuckerman.  Reported by John Borrell/Panama City
and Elaine Shannon/Washington