L.A. Consulate Chief Denounces Noriega Regime

The head of Panama’s consulate in Los Angeles has broken with his country’s military-dominated government and on Wednesday called for new leadership in his troubled nation.

Santiago Torrijos, nephew of the late Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos, issued a letter “to the people of Panama” in which he said that Gen. Manuel A. Noriega’s ruling party has subordinated the interests of the people to the “whims of a small political-military circle.”

Without mentioning Noriega by name, Torrijos said the “political, financial, moral and social crisis in Panama today requires a change of course” that must include a “government of national reconstruction” with deposed President Eric A. Delvalle as its leader.

Torrijos, who is said to have left Los Angeles to join other pro-Delvalle forces in Washington, could not be reached Wednesday. There was no answer at the Los Angeles consulate.

With his letter, Torrijos became one of a small but growing number of Panamanian diplomats to take the side of Delvalle, who was fired by the National Assembly on Feb. 26 and is now in hiding.

On Wednesday, the Panamanian Embassy in Washington--headed by Ambassador Juan B. Sosa, a Delvalle loyalist--made public a letter in which Panama’s ambassador to Mexico, Emilia Arosemena Vallarino, announced her resignation because she is “in disagreement with political events” in her country.

In London on Monday, security guards hired by Panama’s ambassador to Britain stormed the Panamanian Consulate to evict Consul Eduardo Arango, who is loyal to Delvalle. British authorities had to be called to quell the attack.

Santiago Torrijos is said to be the first of his powerful family to break with Noriega. Gen. Torrijos, who was killed in a 1981 plane crash, is revered as a national hero, in part because he negotiated the treaties that will turn control of the Panama Canal over to Panama in 1999.

In his letter, Santiago Torrijos identified himself as “one of the thousands of Omar Torrijos’ political heirs” and called for a “continuance of the Torrijista beliefs.”

Torrijos’ aunt, Aida Torrijos, Panama’s consul in San Francisco, was not available for comment.