(FORTUNE Magazine) – The official language of Panama is Spanish, but the people there also know a few words of French, like laissez-faire. As a result the country has become a haven for U.S. banks, drawn by minimal reporting requirements and quasi-Swiss secrecy provisions, and for shippers, who want a flag of convenience. But a severe cash shortage has closed the banks and led to rioting over the continued rule of Manuel Antonio Noriega. Even if the U.S. government is successful in ousting Noriega, Panama is unlikely to regain its status as a carefree money center for Latin America soon. Shippers are fairly sanguine. Strikes have periodically shut down the pipeline that carries Alaskan oil across Panama, forcing such companies as Sohio and Exxon to think about transferring the oil to tankers and sending it through the canal. The canal itself is still run under U.S. protection, and shippers think that as soon as Noriega is gone they will be doing business as usual. The same cannot be said for the banking industry. The banks are closed in Panama City because bankers fear a run on deposits, and reopening the doors will not be simple even with Noriega gone. The clearing system has been suspended and the backlog of interbank and customer payments will take weeks, not days, to settle. An emergency fund of several hundred million dollars, perhaps with the backing of a bridge loan from the U.S. Treasury, is needed to ensure that banks can meet all their obligations. What the bankers fear, however, is that Noriega will hang on and that, in / his desperation for cash, he will nationalize the banks and compound the mess. While there are about $1.5 billion of deposits in Panama's banking system, there are only about $80 million in reserves for Noriega to grab, so the money won't last very long. Some domestic banks will probably not survive nationalization, and U.S. banks will have to choose between supporting their Panamanian branches or walking away.