Panama’s government has approved safe passage for embattled former President Ricardo Martinelli to leave the country for Nicaragua, after facing prison for money laundering.
Foreign Affairs Minister Javier Martinez-Acha Vasquez announced on Thursday that Martinelli would be allowed to leave, citing concerns about the former president’s health.
Martinelli had previously been granted asylum by Nicaragua, and he has been avoiding arrest by sheltering in the country’s embassy in Panama City.
Panama’s foreign minister declined to mention specifics about the health concerns Martinelli faces.
“Given that justice’s timeline does not always coincide with health’s timeline, the Foreign Relations Ministry has decided to recognise the asylum granted to Mr Martinelli Berrocal by the Nicaraguan government,” Martinez-Acha Vasquez said.
“This asylum is recognised and the safe conduct is granted for strictly humanitarian reasons.”
Martinelli, 73, has exhausted all appeals in his case after being sentenced in 2023 to 10 years in prison for money laundering. He also received a $19m fine in the case.
The conviction led to an end to Martinelli’s political career. Last year, Panama’s Electoral Tribunal ruled he could not run in that year’s presidential race
Panama’s constitution bars anyone with a criminal sentence of five years or more from holding elected office. Prior to the ruling, however, Martinelli was considered a frontrunner in the race.
Martinelli has always maintained his innocence. But prosecutors successfully argued that he used his influence as president, from 2009 to 2014, to award government contracts to companies that then funnelled money to an organisation called “New Business”.
That company was a front, prosecutors alleged. And they said Martinelli leveraged it to buy a publishing business that controlled national newspapers.
The “New Business” scandal was one of several controversies Martinelli faced after leaving office.
He and his two sons – Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares and Ricardo Martinelli Linares – have also been accused of involvement in the Odebrecht scandal, an international corruption case that ensnared leaders from several Latin American countries.
A former supermarket entrepreneur and popular right-wing figure, Martinelli has remained in the Nicaraguan embassy since February 2024, where he has used social media to communicate with his supporters.
Panama has, until Thursday, refused his request to leave the country. But in the lead-up to the Panamanian foreign minister’s announcement that he will now be allowed to leave, Martinelli expressed concern he might be intercepted by the country’s police.
“They must be plotting against me by having Alpha Units of the National Police outside the Nicaraguan Embassy,” he wrote on the social media platform X on Thursday.
Martinelli has until midnight on March 31 to leave.
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