Former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli Received Political Asylum from President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, and flew Saturday May 10 at 7:30pm to Bogotá with his Lawyer Jessica Canto

Former President Ricardo Martinelli, who sought asylum in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama as pictured below, left the diplomatic embassy on Saturday, May 10, and traveled to Colombia. “Happy and content to be back in Bogotá, where I received political asylum as a political refugee. A thousand thanks to the Colombian government and President Gustavo Petro for granting me this political asylum,” the former president wrote on social media at around 11:00 p.m.  Earlier, the Foreign Ministry confirmed that Colombian President Gustavo Petro granted asylum to Martinelli, who was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for money laundering through New Business. 

“Consequently, the Government of the Republic of Panama granted the necessary safe passage for the prompt and safe departure of the asylum seeker, Panamanian citizen Ricardo Martinelli, former president of the Republic of Panama, through a local airport. He traveled by diplomatic vehicle from the Embassy of the Republic of Nicaragua in Panama City and then by plane to the Republic of Colombia,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement.  The plane carrying Martinelli, who had been in asylum in the Nicaraguan embassy since February 2024, departed just after 7:30 p.m. this Saturday.

Discreetly and without attracting much attention, on the night of Saturday, May 10, former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) boarded a plane bound for Bogotá, Colombia, after President Gustavo Petro granted him political asylum and the Panamanian government, led by José Raúl Mulino, issued the safe-conduct permit that allowed him to leave the country.  Since his arrival in the neighboring country, the former president has expressed his happiness at his freedom, after spending more than a year in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama.

Panama’s Ambassador to Colombia Receives Ricardo Martinelli in Bogotá. From left to right, Fernando Correa Jolly, the Panamanian ambassador to Colombia, Mario Boyd Galindo, and former President Ricardo Martinelli in Bogotá, Colombia. 

Ricardo Martinelli arrived in the Colombian capital on the evening of Saturday, May 10, along with his lawyer Jessica Canto and former Savings Bank executive Fernando Correa Jolly pictured above left.