MANAGUA. – The Nicaraguan regime condemned that the government of Panama did not authorize the safe conduct that would allow the departure of the former president Ricardo Martinelli.
According to a communication sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Daniel Ortega regime to Panama, “the non-recognition of asylum and the denial of safe passage constitute a violation of the Conventions on Asylumin particular to Article 2, Third Provision, of the Asylum Convention of 1928which clearly establishes that the Government of the State that grants asylum may demand that the asylum seeker be expelled from the national territory in the shortest possible time.
Martinelli, who was president of Panama from 2009 to 2014, took refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy after being convicted of laundering public funds to acquire shares of Editora Panamá América, SA (Epasa), in December 2010, in the New Business case. .
In July 2023, the former president was sentenced to 128 months in prison and a fine of $19.2 million. The sentence was later ratified by the Superior Court for Settlement of Criminal Cases.
Nicaragua also told Panama that “political asylum must be respected as a humanitarian right, in accordance with international law and the laws of the country that grants asylum.”
According to the Ortega regime, Martinelli was granted asylum for political reasons and because there was an imminent risk to his life, physical integrity and safety.
Panama’s arguments
The government of Panama He summoned the Nicaraguan ambassador, Consuelo Sandoval Meza, to give her the note in which the decision regarding Martinelli was communicated. In addition, she reminded him “of the obligation to guarantee that the headquarters of the Mission Diplomacy in its charge to preserve the functions it is called upon to fulfill.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama argued that “the request for safe conduct to leave the territory of the Republic of Panama of Mr. Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal has been denied based on the provisions of Article 1 of the 1928 Asylum Convention and of the Convention on Political Asylum of 1933″.
Panama He also warned that any action by the former president from the Nicaraguan embassy that affects the country’s internal politics “will be considered interference in internal affairs and will generate diplomatic consequences.”
Source: The Press of Panama / Infobae
