The former president of Panama evades jail by taking refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy, but strains relations between the two countries.
HAVANA TIMES – In one of his latest Instagram posts, Ricardo Martinelli, former president of Panama, is shown exercising on a treadmill and giving advice on how to enjoy the Panamanian Carnival festivities in a healthy way. In the image, there are also two air conditioners, a large television, and a sofa; part of the many belongings brought by the former head of state to the Nicaraguan embassy in the Panamanian capital, where he has been granted asylum since February 7, 2024.
Martinelli declared himself a “politically persecuted person,” although he has not presented any evidence of it. The lack of proof did not prevent the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega from granting him political asylum. The Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry stated he is “persecuted for political reasons” and that “his life, physical integrity, and security are at imminent risk.”
The Ortega regime’s asylum to Ricardo Martinelli, 71, came five days after the Supreme Court of Panama rejected an appeal and upheld a sentence of ten years and six months in prison and the payment of a fine of 19.2 million dollars for money laundering.
“We were all expecting an escape route, because we were sure that former President Martinelli would once again do something to evade justice. I don’t think he is willing to go to jail as he should,” said Lina Vega Abad, journalist, and president of Transparency International in Panama.
In an interview with the program Esta Noche, Vega commented that Panamanians are also not “surprised” by the destination chosen by Ricardo Martinelli. “There aren’t many places that would accept complicity in supporting a convicted person, a criminal. Nicaragua does not have the conditions of a true rule of law,” she stressed.
“Fortunately,” she added, “the move has not gone well.”
Asylum does not apply to common crimes
The Ortega dictatorship also requested the Panamanian government to “provide the assurances for the prompt departure and humanitarian transfer of Martinelli” to Nicaragua. However, the government of Laurentino Cortizo denied the exit permit.
The regime then accused Panama of “violating the Conventions on Asylum” and argued that, according to Article 2 of the 1933 Convention on Political Asylum, it is the responsibility of the asylum-granting state to qualify the political nature of the case.
Panamanian jurist Rodrigo Noriega, an analyst of public policies and justice issues, said the Cortizo government “is right” because all international conventions conclude that “asylum cannot be granted for common crimes, although the qualification belongs to the asylum-granting country, in this case Nicaragua.”
“The universal principle that asylum cannot be granted for common crimes underlies Panama’s reaction. That is, they are saying: ‘Nicaragua, you are making a mistake and, therefore, we are not issuing a safe passage for this man to leave Panama’,” Noriega said on the program Esta Noche.
The sentence against Ricardo Martinelli was issued in July 2023 in the so-called “New Business” case, which involves the purchase with public funds of the media group Editora Panamá América S. A. (Epasa), and dates back to 2017. Along the way, more than a dozen appeals and protections filed by Martinelli’s defense were rejected, and according to some jurists, they were aimed at nothing more than delaying the process so as not to affect his new presidential candidacy, which was invalidated by the confirmation of the sentence.
“Can a dictatorship grant asylum to corrupt individuals?”
Panamanian lawyer Carlos Ernesto Gonzalez pointed out that asylum for Ricardo Martinelli goes beyond legal analysis and enters the realm of morality. “Can a State, governed by a corrupt dictatorship, have the international authority to determine the quality of a crime?” he questioned.
“Can (the same dictatorship) constantly grant asylum to corrupt individuals from other countries?” continued the Panamanian jurist, referring to the fact that the Ortega regime has turned Nicaragua into a hiding place for former presidents, diplomats, former guerrillas, and former high-ranking officials with pending legal issues in their countries.
One of the most well-known cases is that of former President of El Salvador Mauricio Funes (2009-2014), to whom Ortega granted political asylum in 2016, while he was wanted by the Salvadoran justice system for alleged embezzlement of more than $351 million dollars and the payment of bribes. Faced with the threat of extradition by the current Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, Ortega naturalized Funes, his wife, and two of his children, according to a resolution of the Ministry of Governance dated July 30, 2019.
Another fugitive former president hiding in Nicaragua is Salvador Sanchez Ceren, from El Salvador (2014-2019). The justice system is seeking the former president for the crimes of illicit enrichment and money laundering. The former
