
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 25, 1991                   TAG: 9103250248
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PANAMA SUES U.S. OVER INVASION LOOTING

Fernando Pinilla watched helplessly as looters sacked his Panama City bakery. U.S. soldiers nearby refused his pleas to intervene, Pinilla said, and within days his business was destroyed.

That was January 1990, not long after U.S. soldiers invaded Panama to oust dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. A year later, dozens of Panamanian businesses are suing the United States for almost $63 million in property damage from looting that followed the invasion. Thirteen separate suits have been filed, the most recent last week.

The United States is responsible, the plaintiffs say, because it dismantled Panama's only police force - Noriega's Panama Defense Force - leaving Panamanians virtually unprotected from their fellow citizens.

But the government denies the allegations and rejects a class-action lawsuit on behalf of people killed or injured in the invasion. It has asked U.S. District Judge Stanley Harris to dismiss the property damage suits. Harris has not indicated when he will rule on the motions.

The United States does not pay for damage resulting from combat, Justice Department briefs said, adding that courts should not review military policy decisions. - Associated Press

by CNB