Salomón Salo Shamah who served as Administrator of Panama Tourism Authority (ATP) during the Martinelli government was among the visitors to the former president holed up in the Nicaraguan Embassy on Monday, February 12.

While in office he spoke in Martinelli's ear and was identified as the author of attacks and dirty campaigns by critics of the so-called "government of change", and he was supposedly one of those who organized a call center to attack the media, journalists, and those who questioned Martinelli.

On Monday, Shamah got out of a black Mercedes with two other people and entered the embassy headquarters. On the way out, he avoided making comments. This is one of the few times that he has been seen publicly after the Martinelli government.

Martinelli barricaded himself in the Nicaraguan embassy on Thursday, February 15, after the Supreme Court of Justice did not admit an appeal against the sentence of 128 months in prison and the payment of a fine of $19.2 million for money laundering in the New Business case.

The Daniel Ortega regime gave him asylum, but the government of Panama denied him safe passage to leave the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintained that Article 1 of the 1928 Asylum Convention says that it is not lawful for States to grant asylum in “legations, warships, camps or military aircraft, to those accused of common crimes, who are being prosecuted.” in form or who have been condemned by ordinary courts, as well as deserters from land and sea.

Salo Shamah reappears;  visit to Martinelli at the Nicaraguan embassy

Shamah was investigated for the alleged of embezzlement in the construction of a berth in the municipality of Río de Jesús, Veraguas, which cost $135,000. The project was managed when Shamah was the administrator of the ATP. In April 2021, it was reported that the then Third Court for Criminal Cases called him to trial on this issue. In October of that year, Fernando Basurto, third deputy liquidator judge, freed him from charges.