Petro grants political asylum to Panama’s former president – Colombia News

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro granted political asylum to former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, who was convicted of money laundering in July 2023.

The former president has been residing in the Panama’s Nicaraguan Embassy since February 2024 and was given a safe passage by his government, which allowed him to fly on a private jet to Colombia.

Martinelli was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a $9 million fine because of his corruption practices while he was president of his country between 2009 and 2014.

Defending his decision to grant the convicted criminal asylum, Petro said “Colombia must be, as Panama was, a place of refuge, of freedom of expression.”

[Colombia] has been a land of asylum, regardless of whether they are right-wing, left-wing, poets, or politicians.

Gustavo Petro

In June 2018, the president suggested that the fugitive former Panamanian head of state was a common criminal.

“[Martinelli] tapped the phones of his opponents. He received bribes from Odebrecht; he was a friend of Uribe…Now he is in prison,” the president said on social media platform X back then.

The asylum may be a favor to the current Panamanian president, who is a long-time ally and a subordinate of Martinelli.

In a response to the surprise asylum, Panamanian journalist and political scientist Sabrina Bacal told W Radio that “Mulino is a very weak president and can’t compete with a Martinelli if he’s conducting politics from the Nicaraguan Embassy.”

Martinelli arrived by private plane to Bogota on Saturday, and almost immediately posted a video of him partying with some of his closest associates on social media platform Instagram.

On Twitter, Martinelli thanked Petro and falsely claimed that he was the victim of political persecution.