Panama needs strong, independent prosecutors: Gomez

The door had barely closed behind acting Attorney General Guiseppe Bonissi before the person he replaced came out swinging.

Former Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez, said the country requires strong and independent attorneys to serve as prosecutors to resist the political pressure that go with the position.

These pressures, as they were applied to her, were highlighted in weekend revelations of U.S. Embassy messages to Washington, which talked about pressure by President Ricardo Martinelli against Gomez. He replaced her after she was found guilty of illegally ordering wiretaps to monitor the conversation of a prosecutor accused of corruption.
Martinelli later gave political asylum to the former head of Colombia’s secret police, facing the same charge and, according to the Wikileaks revelations sought the assistance of the U.S. government in setting up wiretaps of his own against political opponents.
Gómez denounced President Ricardo Martinelli for attempting to control the office and use it for political reasons. She said that the president needs to be told that he can't use the AG's office as an "instrument of repression."

Former Attorney General Rogelio Cruz said there needs to be "a profound change in the Constitution" to avoid political pressure being applied to prosecutors.

Panama is currently without an attorney general after Bonissi’s resignation in the midst of allegations that preferential treatment was granted by prosecutors to drug traffickers.