OFF THE CUFF: Martinelli triumphal return – fantasy or bravado?

LUIS EDUARDO CAMACHO, spin doctor for Former President Ricardo Martinelli, announced this week that his boss would return to Panama in October, landing in David. and lead a triumphal caravan of supporters to the country’s capital in time for a Democratic Change (CD) party convention.

His return, said Camacho,. is not linked to the raft of charges he faces in the Supreme Court for allegedmalfeasance in the National Assistance  Program (PAN), or the  wiretapping of political opponents, journalists, judges and businessmen, and the latest investigation into  the Financial Pacific  brokerage and the High Spirit account, allegedly used by Martinelli to manipulate stock markets with insider information on the Petaquilla gold mine

La Estrella de Panama in recent research revealed that people close to the former ruling circle knew that in November 2009 he would announce endorsement  of  Petaquilla to extract gold from Donoso, and five days before that event ten million shares were traded, five times the  previous peak

Before its closure, Petaquilla traded on the Toronto, Frankfurt and New York, stock exchanges.

The announcement of the return of Martinelli coincides with the call for internal  elections in the  Democratic Change (CD), which, his defense argues, under a law introduced during his reign, protects him from the scandals.

According to Camacho,  Martinelli  would return to the country in a caravan organized from the airport of David in Chiriqui, a move aping  the ‘Loyalty’, operation of  General Omar Torrijos when he  returned to the country in a clandestine flight and arrived in the capital in a convoy that crossed the Pan American Highway, after the  military  coup in 1969.

“The logic is  simple” boasts  Camacho: “We will show our strength and the strength of our leader’, Martinelli  in spite of plummeting CD membership is, theoretically, the leading figure of the second political force reported by the Electoral Tribunal, with 382 000 registered members, 120,000 more than the government alliance.

His reasoning leaves out the PRD, still holding the largest membership, and the massive nationwide disillusion with the Martinelli regime’s ever widening corruption scandals.

Meanwhile, Martinelli has been hiding out in The United States since January, and political pundits are wondering why his visa has not been revoked.

Another theory is that they have him on ice, and if the High Spirits investigation reveals his involvement in stock manipulation, the authorities would not have to seek his extradition from Panama.

Martinelli’s  Tweeted response to all this is his mantra: “Political Persecution,” and aping the emperor with no clothes,  claims he will come out of it all unscathed,

Political scientist Richard Morales, said  massive support for Martinelli is, a chimera. ”He knows he is not the leader who can mobilize masses” he said, but warns that “’ It is known that the political dimension far exceeds the judiciary. And with that Martinelli wants to weaken legal proceedings against him, because the battles are not fought in court, but among the people”