U.S. Envoy Reroutes Jet as Panamanians Harass Aides

PANAMA CITY — U.S. Ambassador Arthur H. Davis’ private jet landed at a U.S. air base on Sunday after Panamanian security agents harassed his own security detail waiting for him at a commercial airport, a U.S. Embassy official said.

Davis was returning with family members from Contadora Island off the Pacific coast of Panama when the plane landed at Paitilla Airport in the capital, embassy spokesman Terrence Kneebone said.

As the small jet landed, Davis saw several Panamanian security agents armed with rifles “harassing” the ambassador’s security detail, Kneebone said.

Davis then decided to have the plane take off and land instead at Howard Air Base, five miles to the northwest in the canal zone.

One of the Panamanian security agents at Paitilla Airport was demanding to know who was on the plane with Davis, Kneebone said.

The U.S. security officials were in contact with the plane by radio as it came in to land, Kneebone said, and spoke with Davis once on the ground. It was then decided in the face of “fairly hostile actions” on the part of the Panamanian agents to fly the plane elsewhere, he added.

The plane then radioed for and received takeoff clearance from the tower before flying on to Howard.

“The ambassador never got out of his plane,” he said.

Davis’ daughter and other family members were aboard the aircraft.

The U.S. security detail left Paitilla after Davis’ plane took off, the official said.

There was no immediate comment from Panamanian government officials.

Paitilla Airport services small private and commercial aircraft.

It was the second incident in which Panamanian security agents apparently sought to interfere with the ambassador’s movements in Panama. On April 3, a military vehicle tried to stop Davis’ chauffeur-driven limousine as he was leaving the residence of the Vatican envoy.

The vehicle followed Davis’ limousine and tried to stop it with lights and sirens, U.S. Embassy officials said at the time. Davis continued to his own residence in what the embassy called a “serious” incident.

The Panamanian government said the episode involving the ambassador’s limousine was “strictly a police matter” caused when a police sergeant saw “an exaggerated display of automatic arms carried by civilians in three vehicles” that followed Davis’ limousine.

Sunday’s incident at Paitilla Airport was certain to further strain relations between the United States and the Panama government run by strongman Manuel A. Noriega, commander of the defense forces.

Noriega is under indictment in the United States on drug trafficking charges and has rejected U.S. demands that he resign.