PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) Immigration officials handed a deportation order
Friday to a Peruvian journalist whose investigations have angered the
government, but the reporter insisted he would remain in Panama.

Several international human rights groups have supported Gustavo Gorriti,
who has been fighting to remain in Panama since Aug. 28, when the
government refused to renew his work visa.

The government says the order is based on a law that jobs should be filled
by Panamanians where possible. Gorriti says it was politically motivated.

Gorriti, 49, fled Peru in 1992 because of political persecution, and came
to Panama last year.

He has since investigated money laundering by powerful banks and a drug
smuggler's $51,000 campaign contribution to the president. After first
denying it, the president later said he had been unaware of the contribution.

Gorriti told The Associated Press on Friday that the government offered him
a deal a day earlier, saying he could stay at his newspaper, La Prensa, if
he relinquished his title as associate director.

``I of course, said no, because the only places I know of where governments
have the right to dictate which positions journalists could have or have
not was the Soviet Union in the past with Pravda and maybe Cuba today with
Granma,'' he said. ``That was totally not negotiable.''

Three immigration officials showed up at Gorriti's house Friday with the
deportation order, and Gorriti called in reporters and photographers from
his newspaper to document the event before signing it.

After the government refused to renew Gorriti's visa, he holed up in his
newspaper offices for nine days. The government then said it would not kick
him out while appeals were pending and he moved back home and continued to
work at La Prensa.

Gorriti said he has three days to appeal the deportation order. He has also
appealed to the Supreme Court to make labor officials renew his work visa.
``We are going to fight it every step of the way,'' he said.

One of Gorriti's lawyers, Alejandro Watson, said the notification was
illegal because Gorriti has cases pending before Panamanian courts.

Rolando Rodriguez, a reporter at La Prensa, said the deportation order
``radically changes everything, because with a deportation order he can
never legally enter the country again.''

But Gorriti said he was saddened, not intimidated, and noted that in his
native Peru on Friday, minority shareholders backed by police took control
of a television station that had angered the armed forces.

``It's a very sad setback for freedom of the press in Latin America
today,'' he said. ``We feel doubly compelled to do what we can on our end
of the battle here.''