Panama Armed Forces

The U.S. Army general who led December's invasion of Panama said Monday that the security of the operation was compromised by a still-unknown source, forcing the military to speed up the invasion by 15 minutes and increasing the casualties suffered by American forces. Lt. Gen. Carl W.

Vice President Dan Quayle toured Panama on Sunday in a series of photo opportunities designed, aides said, to demonstrate to the world that the country has returned to normal. Clearly cheered by a series of warm receptions at an open air market, a church and a restaurant overlooking the Pacific, Quayle praised Panamanian support for the U.S. invasion last month that overthrew dictator Manuel A. Noriega.

Pentagon officials assessing last month's Panama invasion believe that an 11th-hour change of orders could have contributed to the high casualty toll suffered by a group of Navy SEALs in an attack on Punta Paitilla airport, The Times has learned. Only hours before the Panama invasion's "H-hour" on Dec. 20, three commando platoons--about 48 men--were moving secretly toward the airport to destroy Panamanian leader Manuel A.

The United States has turned over to Panamanian authorities 32 former Panama Defense Forces officers and paramilitary leaders held as prisoners of war on a U.S. military base since the invasion of Panama more than a month ago, the U.S. Southern Command announced Monday. The transfer of the prisoners to the Carcel Modelo, a local jail, marked the first step in a process designed to bring to trial in Panamanian courts the lieutenants of Manuel A.

Just a few months ago, Maj. Gen. Marc A. Cisneros, commander of the U.S. Army here, found that tough talk about Panama nearly got him fired. Now maternity wards here are filled to confusion with babies named in his honor. And even in the glow of vindication, Cisneros still does not hold his blunt words back.

A crucial new phase of the U.S. military occupation here has left the western half of this country in the hands of about 600 Green Berets, whose specially trained units face what could be a protracted struggle as they seek to prop up fragile civilian institutions while guarding against the emergence of a guerrilla resistance.

President Guillermo Endara warned Tuesday that if the United States fails to provide sufficient economic aid for his government, all of the effort put into deposing dictator Manuel A. Noriega will have been wasted. "People will probably seek solutions outside the democratic process; they will think that Noriega's times were better times," he told senior editors and correspondents of The Times in an hourlong interview. "All our efforts will be lost . . .

About 200 protesters staged a noisy but peaceful demonstration Saturday evening outside the Peruvian ambassador's house, where five former officers of the Panama Defense Forces have sought refuge. The demonstrators, most of whom were residents of the Cangrejo neighborhood where the residence is located, banged pots and pans and chanted slogans against Peruvian President Alan Garcia.

The United States has begun delicate talks with the Panamanian government in hopes of persuading its leaders to create an anti-narcotics police force and to implement new restrictions on banking in order to consolidate gains in the war on drugs won with the ouster of Manuel A. Noriega, according to U.S. and Panamanian officials.

An attorney for a co-defendant of deposed strongman Manuel A. Noriega said Tuesday he is asking for top-secret records of the National Security Agency on grounds that the agency "regularly monitored" all communications of Noriega's Panama Defense Forces. In the first federal court papers seeking U.S. intelligence files in the Noriega case, defense lawyer Michael J.