Panama-Flagged Vessels Banned From U.S. Ports
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WASHINGTON — President Bush, trying to tighten the economic screws on Panama’s Gen. Manuel A. Noriega “and his puppet regime,” Thursday banned Panamanian-flag vessels from entering U.S. ports after Jan. 31.
“This ban is consistent with international efforts to further isolate the Noriega regime, which is currently shunned by the democratic nations of Latin America and around the world,” the White House said in a statement.
The ban, announced as Bush prepared to leave for his weekend summit at Malta with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, is in addition to a wide array of U.S. economic sanctions already in place against Panama.
Noriega, who is under indictment in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, has resisted U.S. efforts to oust him.
The action will affect about 1,500 merchant ships of more than 1,000 tons gross that call each year in U.S. ports, according to State Department estimates.
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