Martinelli tantrum, resists transfer to public hospital

The health saga of Panama’s imprisoned former president, Ricardo Martinelli, has returned to the public domain overriding concerns of the escalating costs of the upcoming World Youth Day and the declining approval ratings of the current president  Juan Carlos Varela.

For a year in a Miami jail awaiting extradition to face justice for wiretapping political opponents journalists and businessmen, there were no reports of health problems although lawyers representing victims of his spying activities were falsely told he had t cancer.

But since his return and incarceration in El Renacer prison, he has made multiple “emergency”  trips to Hospital Santo Tomas, and after being assessed by a forensic medical team with the key diagnosis being hypertension, suffered by some 50 percent of the population.

On Thursday this week, Martinelli was taken to the private National Hospital for a  heart check-up, at the request of defense lawyers.

He arrived, as he frequently did during his preliminary court hearings, yelling accusations at his “persecutors”. The theme   was: “They are trying to kill me.”

At dawn on Friday, amid complaints from relatives, lawyers, and supporters, he was moved to Santo Tomas which handles the health problems of  ordinary  members  of the prison population

Agents of the National Police and the Penitentiary System arrived to make the transfer but  Martinelli, who was accompanied by his wife  Marta Linares de Martinelli and his lawyers, resisted.

“I’m not leaving,” he shouted after getting up from the gurney on which he was being moved, but the prison team succeeded in taking the special patient back to the public domain.

The  General Directorate of the Penitentiary System reported that Martinelli “refused to carry out studies” in the National Hospital and they ordered his transfer to Santo Tomás Hospital.

“Once the corresponding exams have been completed, Martinelli Berrocal will be transferred again to the El Renacer Prison,” said the statement.

“The Penitentiary System reports that in respect of the rights of all inmates, the necessary steps have been taken and reiterates that the request for the practice of medical examinations in a public health institution is being complied with,” the statement said.