Colombia has granted asylum to Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli, who has departed the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City for Colombia, the Panamanian government says.
Martinelli, who was sentenced to more than a decade in prison in Panama for money laundering, has been living in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City since February 2024, after Panama’s Supreme Court confirmed his sentence.
Panamanian authorities said in a statement they offered the ex-president safe passage from the embassy to a local airport in “full compliance with the obligations set forth in the 1928 Convention on Asylum and the 1933 Convention on Political Asylum”.
Colombia’s foreign ministry said the granting of asylum to Martinelli was “part of Colombia’s humanist tradition of protecting people who are persecuted for political reasons”.
Martinelli is a businessman and supermarket magnate who governed Panama from 2009 to 2014, a period of rapid economic growth driven by the construction of major projects such as the first metro in Central America and the expansion of the interoceanic canal.
But his government was tainted by accusations of bribery and cost overruns. He was sanctioned by the United States for corruption in January 2023.
Martinelli maintains his prosecution was politically motivated as he sought to run for a second term of office.
In 2023, he won his party’s nomination to seek the presidency again. However, he was convicted of money laundering, and after the Supreme Court denied his appeal, he was ineligible to run.
Ultimately, Martinelli supported his running mate, current President Jose Raul Mulino.
With AP and EFE
