a040  0243  03 Apr 90
PM-Mexico-Panama,0408
Among Latins, A Nasty Dispute
By CANDICE HUGHES
Associated Press Writer
    MEXICO CITY (AP) - A spat between Mexico and Panama over whose
government has the most - or least - legitimacy is heating up with
officials and newspapers trading insults and demanding
''explanations.''
    Mexico's official government newspaper, El Nacional, used words like
''bluster,'' ''swagger'' and ''stupid'' on Monday to describe
President Guillermo Endara of Panama.
    Newspapers in Panama, meanwhile, said Mexico's ''party
dictatorship'' had been a model for Panama's bygone military regimes.
    The war of words began Friday after the Rio Group of nations -
Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil and Peru -
called for elections in Panama to ''legitimize'' its post-invasion
government.
    The Rio Group's statement, issued in Mexico City, angered Endara,
who was sworn in during the U.S. invasion in December. Mexico, Peru
and Argentina have refused to send ambassadors to Endara's
government.
    Endara shot back Saturday, saying Mexico's government took power
through election fraud and Panama doesn't need its endorsement.
    He said his own government was ''legitimized by the people at the
polls on May 7. We don't want the legitimization of the Mexican
government ... because it is a government that came to power through
sheer electoral fraud.''
    International observers say Endara's ticket overwhelmingly won the
May 7 Panamanian election, which strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio
Noriega later voided.
    Mexico's Foreign Ministry responded dryly to Endara's attack with a
statement saying it ''will proceed, through diplomatic means, to ask
for an explanation.''
    Election fraud is an extremely touchy subject in Mexico, where the
Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has been in power for 61
years.
    Unlike Panama or Nicaragua, Mexico does not allow international
election observers. The results of its 1988 presidential election are
still clouded by accusations that the PRI resorted to electoral fraud
to stay in power.
    The PRI on Monday demanded an apology from Endara. It also accused
him of presiding over the ''persecution, torture, jailing and
execution of thousands of Panamanians.''
    The party did not elaborate, but it appeared to be making a
reference to the U.S. invasion, when hundreds of members of Noriega's
defense forces were arrested. There have been no reports of torture
or execution.
    ''The Panamanian regime must offer an apology and give clear and
satisfactory explanations for the serious breach it has committed,''
the party said in a statement.
    
 
AP-NY-04-03-90 0534EDT
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