The United States compared the Panamanian regime of Gen. Manuel Noriega to Adolf Hitler and said Noriega will soon become an international "outlaw."
American officials also hinted Thursday they were prepared to act unilaterally to topple Noriega after the Organization of American States failed to negotiate the strongman's removal from power in Panama.A four-member commission appointed by the OAS foreign ministers reported Wednesday it had not been able, in three months, to mediate the terms under which Panama would return to civilian democratic rule.
The OAS issued a report critical of Panama's abuses of human rights, but also criticized the U.S. government for staging military maneuvers at a time when such actions could inflame the political situation.
The OAS foreign ministers ended their marathon strategy session early Thursday morning. The U.S. representative, deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, warned that if Noriega does not relinquish power by Sept. 1, the date set by the Panamanian constitution, "Then the Noriega regime will have declared itself to be an outlaw among civilized nations and we should treat it accordingly."
Eagleburger said every OAS member nation "has the obligation to isolate this outlaw regime." He did not suggest any specific actions, although U.S. officials talked earlier of further tightening the existing economic embargo as a first step.
Accusing Noriega of giving safe haven to drug traffickers, the laundering of drug money and permitting his country to be used as a cocaine transhipment point, Eagleburger compared Noriega to Hitler.
Eagleburger said, "That is aggression as surely as Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland 50 years ago was aggression. It is aggression against us all, and some day it must be brought to an end."
Noriega was indicted last year by two federal grand juries in Florida on charges of involvement in drug trafficking.
One State Department official said, "Clearly, the multilateral approach didn't work with Noriega, and so we are now looking at other options for acting alone. At this point, I wouldn't rule anything out."
The official said it was possible that some other nations might be interested in acting in concert with the United States in bringing further pressure against Noriega.
In its final declaration, the OAS council of ministers recommended that the Inter-American Human Rights commission send a delegation to investigate reports of abuses by the Noriega government. But even that recommendation, according to the declaration, can only be carried out with "the consent of Panama."
In the long, closed debate at the OAS, U.S. officials continually urged strong, direct action, focused on Noriega. But that argument, according to diplomats, repeatedly ran into the argument that the OAS should not be meddling in the internal affairs of any country.