Presidential Runner Backtracks On Martinelli Pardon

“If To Build Consensus And Make A Unity Government It was necessary to pardon Ricardo Martinelli, I would do so without hesitation,” said Panama Mayor and presidential candidate of the Panameñista and Popular parties,  José Isabel Blandón in a Thursday  March 14 interview, on Portobelo Stereo , in Colon,: “If to pacify the country and get us to concentrate on what we should like the reactivation of the economy, the constitutional change and the Social Security Fund,  I would accede to a pardon to Martinelli.

On Friday in a meeting with La Prensa about his statement Blandón clarified that he did not promise to pardon Martinelli. However, he said it is important to look ahead and build the necessary consensus, “for which he would be willing to make difficult decisions, but always in respect of the rule of law.”

In addition, he recalled that Article 184 of the Constitution provides that the form of pardon only applies to political crimes and an existing sentence, so a president could not approve a pardon that does not meet these two

Martinelli faces trial for allegedly ordering the intervention of communications from opponents, from the offices of the National Security Council, in the last two years of his term.