The Foreign Ministry of Panama denied the safe passage requested by the Nicaraguan embassy to transfer former president Ricardo Martinelli to Managua. The former president has been holed up in the diplomatic headquarters of this country since Tuesday. On Friday, the Foreign Ministry summoned the mission representative in Panama, Consuelo Sandoval Meza, to inform her of the decision based on article 1 of the 1928 Convention on Asylum and the 1933 Convention on Political Asylum.

Likewise, the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry reads, the ambassador was reminded of the obligation to preserve the obligations that she is called to fulfill, according to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, so it should not be used incompatible way. In other words, “any action, statement or communication made by the former president from the embassy and has repercussions or impacts on the domestic politics of Panama, will be considered interference in the internal affairs of the country, and therefore, will generate diplomatic consequences,” it reads.

The communication warns two things: that Martinelli will have a long stay at the embassy, ​​and that Panama will be attentive to the conduct of the asylum seeker. Martinelli was recently interviewed by CNN en Español, a conversation in which he stated that Laurentino Cortizo’s government was a “civil dictatorship” and that the court case that earned him a sentence of more than 10 years in prison is the product of a political persecution.

Yesterday there was also an official statement from the United States government. Brian Nichols, Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department of that country, indicated that the asylum granted by Nicaragua to former President Ricardo Martinelli “undermines the rule of law and justice.” The message was issued this Friday in a message on the ‘X’ network, three days after Managua notified Panama of the decision. “Ortega-Murillo’s granting of asylum to former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli in Nicaragua is yet another measure to undermine the rule of law and subvert justice. Government officials who betray the public trust must be held accountable,” reads the message on the X network.

Washington has restricted the visas of more than a thousand Nicaraguan officials due to attacks on freedoms and repression of civil society organizations. This Thursday, the State Department informed this newspaper that it was “aware that the former president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli requested and obtained asylum from the government of Nicaragua through his embassy in Panama.”

The statement from the Department of State occurs on the same day that the Judicial Branch lifted the edict, which announced for five calendar days, the non-admission of the cassation filed by the defense against the sentence for money laundering that sentenced the former president to 128 months in prison, a fine of $19.2 million and the confiscation of the shares of the companies that own the Epasa publishing group, for the New Business case. Martinelli owns a percentage of the shares in the publishing group, although he took him to court for having acquired it, according to the ruling, with funds from the State.

The notification procedure to the parties indicating that the sentence is final, or executory, must occur once the file is sent to the Second Court for Criminal Cases, headed by Judge Baloisa Marquínez. And that was this Friday. Now the judge must post another edict and notify the Electoral Tribunal (TE) about the sentence. Although the former president’s defense has exhausted almost all legal resources to delay the notification to the TE, and those it has are not going to reverse the sentence, lawyer Carlos Carrillo told La Estrella de Panamá that he will file a clarification of the sentence. , in addition to evaluating other local and international alternatives.

Once the request for clarification has been submitted, explained lawyer Carrillo, there is a period of three days to issue the clarification and then the file must be sent to the Criminal Court. “The only thing the court can do is re-enter the file,” said Carrillo. This, according to the former president’s defense, prevents the sentence from “being final” or the judge from notifying the Electoral Court where another controversial process to disqualify Martinelli is also on the horizon.
Meanwhile, furniture and visitors continue to arrive at the house that houses the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama. This Friday his wife Marta Linares and two of his children visited him at different times. Martinelli also spoke with his co-partisan Sergio Gálvez, a candidate for mayor of the capital who opened the possibility that the ex-president’s wife could accompany Mulino as Martinelli’s representation in the campaign. “She is going to be the living representation of Martinelli, she is going to be practically her vice president, she is going to replace her husband,” Gálvez revealed.

His electoral alliance partner, José Muñoz, president of the Alianza party, also went to see him, who avoided speaking to the media about the court case and reaffirmed his support for the vice presidential candidate José Raúl Mulino. “We are not going to have a break during Carnival, we are going with everything,” said Muñoz.

This Friday some workers were also seen entering with furniture, the adaptations for the former president’s stay also include the exterior façade of the room in which Martinelli had a type of awning installed to prevent the sun.

On the other hand, Gilberto Cruz, lawyer for Epasa, indicated to this medium that he is waiting for the Civil Chamber to resolve a Guarantee Protection that he presented with the purpose of elucidating “the lack of legitimacy that the operational control of Epasa by part of the government, since it was not called to respond during the trial,” he explained.

Until the time of writing this note, Epasa’s lawyers stated that they had not been notified by the State about the control of the newspapers, obeying the ruling that requires the transfer of the shares of the corporations that control the newspapers. Regarding the future employment of employees, the jurist said that the “State must respect the treaties on labor matters and would have to assume the assets and liabilities in that area.” But as long as they do not notify, “they have to manage the payments with the resources that exist at the time as a result of the commercial activity,” he indicated. How long can you last? Cruz has no answer for that.