The Treasury Department placed Panamanian leader Gen. Manuel Noriega, his wife and 32 Panamanian companies on its list of Cuban agents Friday, barring U.S. citizens from doing business with them.
The listing is "another step in the United States' efforts to halt the channeling of funds to the illegal regime of General Noriega and to neutralize Cuban commercial activities in Panama," the department said in a statement."This action serves to underscore the administration's resolve to undermine the extensive network of commercial and financial collusion between the Noriega and Castro regimes," it said.
The action, which coincides with President Bush's participation in the Costa Rican summit and which places Noriega on the "Dealing with the Enemy" list, was designed and timed to show that the administration is prepared to step up economic pressure on Noriega to force him to step down and give way to a democratically elected leadership.