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16

FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1988

Panama City's Jews
'rugged By Both Sides

MORTON M. ROSENTHAL

Special to The Jewish News

elevision reporters on
the evening news
often focus their
cameras on Panama City's
Central Avenue shopping
district were shoppers ex-
amine clothing and shoes pil-
ed on tables outside the
stores. When a general strike
is in effect, the number of
stores open for business is us-
ed as a visual barometer of
the effectiveness of the Na-
tional Civic Crusade's latest
effort to oust General Manuel
Noriega.
But there are two untold
stories here. One has to do
with the pressure being ex-
erted on the merchants of
Central Avenue by both sides
in the political crisis because
of television coverage. The
other is the fact that the ma-
jority of those merchants are
Jews.
lb ensure that television
broadcasts in the United
States and Panama show that
the strike is a failure, the
government has taken
unusual measures to have the
stores remain open during
general strikes. The opposi-
tion, united in the National
Civic Crusade, a broad-based
coalition of about 200
business and civic organiza-
tions seeking to oust General
Manuel Noriega, also has
pressured the merchants — to
keep their stores shut in sup-
port of the strikes.
Another Jewish dimension
to the political drama in
Panama is that President
Eric Delvalle is a Jew, a
member of one of Panama's
oldest Jewish families. On
March 6 he sent a three-page
letter to Panamanian Jews
urging them to "join the na-
tional movement" to oust
General Noriega. Thus, the
merchants of Central Avenue,
along with all other Panama-
nian Jews, inadvertently find
themselves in the eye of the
political storm.
During the second week of
March, Barry Mehler, chair-
man of the Latin American
Affairs Committee of the
Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, and I went to
Panama and met leaders of
the Civic Crusade. They ex-
pressed frustration with
members of the Jewish com-
munity who did not close
their stores in support of the
general strikes called by the
Crusade last June and in
February.
This frustration was vented

T

in more than a dozen dif-
ferent flyers which were wide-
ly distributed in both the
commercial and residential
sections of Panama City. One
flyer said, "Jews of Panama,
today Klaus Barbie is being
judged for crimes against a
people; don't let this happen
in Panama, support us." The
headline on another was,
"Jews vs. Country." Still
another charged that the
"Turcos (Turks — their name
for Jews from Arab lands)
have never integrated, nor
have they identified with this
country where they amassed
their fortunes?' In addition,
some members of the Jewish
community received
threatening anti-Semitic
phone calls.
What caused particular
consternation was the fact
that the flyers were
distributed from the National
Civic Crusade headquarters
office. We told the head of the
National Civic Crusade,
Aurelio Barria, and four other_
Crusade leaders with whom
we met at the Marriott Hotel
in Panama, that anti-
Semitism was morally wrong
and politically harmful to
their cause. In response to our
expression of concern that in
the wake of General Noriega's
departure anti-Semitism
might erupt once again, Bar-
ria said, "We don't accept
anti-Semitism; we are against
it . . . We will take necessary
steps to prevent anti-
Semitism happening again!'

Subsequently, we met with
a group of merchants who
own stores on Central
Avenue. They spoke of the
pressures which government
emissaries — sometimes of
cabinet rank — exerted on
them during personal visits
to their stores. General
Noriega is perceived by many
as ruthless and shrewd. We
found that the merchants fear
retaliation by the Noriega
government, which could be
immediate, more than they
fear the vengeance which the
Civic Crusade might exact.
They said that they opened
their stores out of fear,
primarily for the safety of
their families, but also mind-
ful of General Noriega's abili-
ty to destroy their businesses
overnight. Indeed, on the
night of March 17 one of the
stores on Central Avenue was
pillaged and burned. The fire
department's failure to res-
pond to the alarm until after
the store was gutted by fire
was interpreted by some as a
message.