RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Dec. 20— From Mexico to Argentina, Latin American governments today roundly condemned the use of force by the United States against Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega of Panama.

Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Peru criticized the action as interference in the sovereign affairs of a fellow American nation.

Nicaragua placed its troops on alert, Peru recalled its Ambassador to the United States and Venezuela said it would not recognize the new Government of Guillermo Endara until United States troops were withdrawn.

Leftist groups in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico planned public rallies to protest the move. United States diplomatic employees across the continent were instructed to be on the alert for anti-American demonstrations. 'Vehement Appeal' by Brazil

Brazil, Latin America's most populous country, deplored the American action and made ''a vehement appeal that a pacific and an immediate solution be found for the crisis.''

Calling the attack by the United States ''a step backward in international relations,'' Brazil's President, Jose Sarney, said, ''We profoundly lament this event.''

Many countries repeated earlier condemnations of the Noriega regime, one of the last military dictatorships in Latin America.

Venezuela, long a leader of regional efforts to persuade General Noriega to step down, attributed today's military action to ''a lack of an effective and firm response by our countries to the violation of human rights and constitutional norms on the part of the de facto Government of Panama.''

Mexico adopted a similar stand in a statement today.

The Government said it ''publicly censured the conduct of Mr. Manuel Antonio Noriega, and reitereated the need of radically facing the problem of drug smuggling.''

''Nonetheless,'' it said, ''the combat of international crimes cannot be a motive for intervening in a sovereign nation.'' 'New Imperialist Aggression'

Calling for an ''immediate cessation of hostilities,'' the Mexican Government said, ''The Panamanian crisis must be resolved only by the Panamanian people.''

Today's military action proved once again that American intervention in Latin America is an issue that cuts across ideological lines in the region.

In Cuba, the Communist Government condemned this ''new imperialist aggression against our Latin American peoples.''

Cuba's Foreign Ministry described the military move as ''incredible evidence of the disdain of the United States for international law.''

On the other side of the ideological spectrum, Chile's right-wing military Government ''rejected'' the United States action and called for ''a rapid restoration of Panama's sovereignty.'' Concern Over the Canal

Chile, Peru and other countries with ports on the Pacific Ocean also expressed concern over the closing today of the Panama Canal.

President Alan Garcia of Peru, long a strong critic of Panama's military dictatorship, announced that he was withdrawing Peru's Ambassador from Washington until United States troops are withdrawn from Panamanian territory.

In addition, Mr. Garcia said that a drug summit meeting scheduled for Feb. 15 in Colombia should be postponed. President Bush and the Presidents of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru were to attend.

Bolivia's President, Jaime Paz Zamora, issued a statement expressing ''profound worry over the United States intervention in this brother country'' but did not comment on the summit meeting. Nicaragua's Army on Alert

Criticism of the United States action also came from Panama's neighbors on the Central American isthmus. Officials in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua condemned the use of force.

''Some of Noriega's people, armed but dressed in civilian clothing, are at the border,'' Costa Rica's Foreign Minister, Rodrigo Madrigal Nieto, said in a telephone interview. ''We don't know whether they intend to cross the border or whether they are preparing for a battle on the Panamanian side.''

In Nicaragua, the leftist Government called the United States invasion ''a serious threat to Nicaragua'' and placed the armed forces on ''a state of general fighting alert.''

About 20 howitzers were set up in the center of Managua, T-55 tanks were seen moving through the capital and reserves and civilian militia were called up. In declaring the alert, the Government invoked American invasions of Nicaragua earlier this century and United States support for anti-Government guerrillas for the last decade.

In Buenos Aires, Nicaragua's Interior Minister, Tomas Borge, appealed for a ''thermonuclear bomb of reactions against this infamous, intervening Government.''

Argentina's Foreign Minister, Domingo Cavallo, said that Argentina deplored the United States action and that President Carlos Saul Menem was ''preoccupied by the news.'' Neighboring Uruguay also ''rejected the military measures adopted by the United States Government.''