Jailing of  Martinelli  a message to the political and economic class

The decision of Panama’s  Supreme Court (CSJ) not to accept the appeal in favor of former President Ricardo Martinelli is considered a message that justice is sending to the country’s political and economic class.

Olga de Obaldía, executive director of the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom,  the Panama chapter of Transparency International, said the main thing in all this is that as a country we manage to end impunity, since from there we will walk to avoid acts of corruption.

Rómulo Roux, presidential candidate of the alliance made up of the Democratic Change (CD) and Panameñista parties, maintained that this is a final and definitive decision, which must be respected and enforced.

“We continue working and focused on what corresponds to us to achieve the change that Panama needs, regardless of what happens in other campaigns,” Roux noted.

 Ricardo Lombana, the presidential candidate of the Otro Camino Movement (Moca), considered that the Judicial Body “once again stands on the right side of history and finishes condemning one of the biggest corrupt people the country has ever had, from politics. ”.

“The pressure that the people are putting, which is based on the boredom that exists towards a corrupt political system, is being listened to by the authorities, in this case, the Court.”

The candidate for free nomination, Melitón Arrocha, stated that it was demonstrated that no one is above the law.

Martín Torrijos, nominated for the Presidency by the Popular Party, warned that the course of his campaign does not depend on the “luck” of other candidates, but acknowledged that what happened Friday has “repercussions on the electoral offer of the elections.”

The PRD representative, Zulay Rodríguez, is the only presidential candidate (by free nomination) who showed regret for the Court’s decision

“Once again, the interference of the Cortizo and Carrizo government in judicial decisions has been demonstrated. “she wrote on the social network X.

 Maribel Gordón, the presidential candidate through free nomination, pointed out that this process has been delayed and that late justice is not justice.

The former magistrate of the Electoral Court, Guillermo Márquez Amado, stressed that, with the decision of the Criminal Chamber, Martinelli cannot run for president of the Republic.

He believes that it must be recognized that the Court has had the “pants” to decide that and that it was not adopted after the May 2024 elections. “Justice is on the way to strengthening,” he said.

The former attorney general and former deputy, Ana Matilde Gómez, indicated that justice will be done at a good time.

“The first message is that justice is ready to resist the attacks of political and economic power.”

The former deputy and former candidate for the presidency of the Republic, Balbina Herrera, said that what happened is a message for the entire political class.

“You can play once or twice so that justice doesn’t catch up with you, but in the end, it will.”

Herrera is one of the victims of the unauthorized interceptions that were carried out by the National Security Council (CSN) in the last two years of the Martinelli government In the puncture case, Martinelli was acquitted, but two directors of the CSN were sentenced to 60 months in prison.