Panama’s President Mulino Confirms Meeting with the Nicaraguan Ambassador Regarding Former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli’s Asylum

President José Raúl Mulino confirmed this Thursday that he held a meeting with the new ambassador of Nicaragua, Jessica Yaoska Padilla Leiva (pictured below), in which the situation of former President Ricardo Martinelli was addressed , who has been in asylum for a year at the diplomatic headquarters of the Central American country in Panama City.  During his usual press conference, Mulino was asked if he had already spoken with the Nicaraguan diplomatic representative and what his government’s position would be regarding the safe conduct requested by Martinelli. 

“Yes, I spoke with her yesterday, I invited her here to the presidency in the morning, we talked and I sent a personal message to President Daniel Ortega (pictured below left with Ricardo Martinelli right) with great respect, which I cannot make public at this time out of basic courtesy, but I did have her here yesterday. The Martinelli issue is the topic, of course,” the president responded without offering further details about the conversation content.  The president had previously indicated that once the new ambassador was confirmed, issues related to Martinelli’s status would be discussed.  On February 7 of 2025 Ricardo Martinelli completed one year of asylum in the Nicaraguan Embassy.  Martinelli suffers from a hiatal hernia and needs a passport to receive medical care.  Regarding this situation, Mulino stressed that he has no objection to this taking place, but he had not received any official request on this matter.

In December 2024, the government of Daniel Ortega announced Padilla Leiva as Nicaragua’s ambassador to Panama, replacing Consuelo Sandoval Mesa, after the latter submitted her resignation from the position.  The change in diplomatic representation occurred after Mulino summoned the Nicaraguan ambassador to express his “concern” about Martinelli’s “expressions” and to ask that the diplomatic headquarters not be a “focus of political meetings”, limiting itself “only” to its responsibilities as an asylum seeker, according to the Panamanian foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha.  Martinelli, who governed Panama between 2009 and 2014, has been in asylum at the Nicaraguan embassy since February 7 after being sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for money laundering in the New Business case.

Sentence in the New Business Case

Former President Ricardo Martinelli was sentenced in July 2023 to more than 10 years in prison and a fine of $19.2 million after being found guilty of money laundering in the New Business case. The investigation revealed that, between 2010 and 2011, public and private funds were used to purchase the publishing company Epasa, owner of the newspapers Panamá América, Crítica and Día a Día, through a financial structure that diverted money from state contracts.  In February 2024, Martinelli was granted political asylum by the government of Daniel Ortega, after entering the Nicaraguan diplomatic headquarters in Panama to avoid capture. However, the Panamanian government has not granted him a safe passage to leave the country.