The Colombian government said on Saturday that it had granted asylum to Ricardo Martinelli, a former president of Panama who had been sheltering for more than a year in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City to evade a prison sentence for money laundering.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had granted Mr. Martinelli asylum and arranged for him to travel by diplomatic car from the Nicaraguan embassy to a local airport to catch a flight to Colombia.
Mr. Martinelli, 73, a businessman who led Panama from 2009 to 2014, said on social media late Saturday that he had arrived in Bogotá, the Colombian capital. He said he had been granted asylum as a political refugee.
In 2023, Mr. Martinelli was convicted of money laundering in a case in which prosecutors said that funds were obtained from government contractors for the 2010 purchase of a publishing house. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $19 million. Panama’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction on appeal.
Mr. Martinelli said the case was politically motivated.
Nicaragua granted Mr. Martinelli asylum last year, and he holed up in the country’s embassy in Panama City with some furniture and his dog, Bruno. He initially said that he intended to campaign in Panama’s May 2024 presidential election from the embassy.
Two months before the election, Panama’s electoral tribunal disqualified Mr. Martinelli from running because of his sentence in the money laundering case.
Mr. Martinelli’s running mate, José Raúl Mulino, took his place on the ballot and leaned heavily on his presidential legacy in the campaign. Mr. Martinelli supported him from inside the embassy.
Mr. Mulino won the election handily.
Mike Ives is a reporter for The Times based in Seoul, covering breaking news around the world.
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