Mulino confidently standing on his own for RM with absence of Martinelli.
- By : James Bryson
- Category : Politics

The former heads of State and Government members of the Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA), aware of the unconstitutionality lawsuit filed against the presidential candidacy of José Raúl Mulino after it was admitted by the Electoral Court on March 4 of 2024, stated on April 3 that they support his candidacy.
After the disqualification of Ricardo Martinelli, who was convicted for the “New Business” case and is seeking asylum in the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama waiting for safe conduct to leave the country, the plenary session of the judges of the Electoral Court approved that Mulino was the presidential candidate for the Realizing Goals and Alliance parties.
Furthermore, the Attorney General of the Nation, Javier Caraballo, stated that Mulino’s candidacy is not unconstitutional after he was consulted by the Supreme Court of Justice, where the claim of unconstitutionality was admitted.
“Respectful as we are of the autonomy and independence of justice in countries where democracy and the rule of law govern, we see with deep concern the tendency to prevent or restrict the right to political participation in some countries in the region and the exercise, for this purpose, of undue political pressure on the administration of justice,” indicates the statement from the former presidents.
In the statement, the members of IDEA recalled that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, to whose criteria they adhere, has clearly said that “the effective exercise of political rights constitutes an end in itself and, at the same time, a fundamental means that “Democratic societies have to guarantee other human rights.”
The group recalled that citizens should not only enjoy rights, but also “opportunities.”
These opportunities imply, the group indicated, the obligation to guarantee with positive measures that every person who is formally the holder of political rights has the real opportunity to exercise them.
“And, in cases of sanctions permitted by law, they can only be restricted when there is a conviction, by a competent judge, in criminal proceedings, definitively final and “in which the judicial guarantees enshrined in Article 8 of the American Convention should have been respected. “, expressed the statement in its final part.
IDEA is made up of:
Mario Abdo, Paraguay
Oscar Arias S., Costa Rica
Rafael Ángel Calderón, Costa Rica
Alfredo Cristiani, El Salvador
Vicente Fox, Mexico
Federico Franco, Paraguay
Eduardo Frei, Chile
Osvaldo Hurtado, Ecuador
Luis Alberto Lacalle H., Uruguay
Guillermo Lasso M., Ecuador
Mauricio Macri, Argentina
Jamil Mahuad W., Ecuador
Carlos Mesa G., Bolivia
Lenin Moreno, Ecuador
Mireya Moscoso, Panama
Andrés Pastrana, Colombia
Jorge Tuto Quiroga, Bolivia
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez E., Costa Rica
Álvaro Uribe V., Colombia
Juan Carlos Wasmosy, Paraguay
No Comments