Judith Pena | January 26, 2023
After the Secretary of State of the United States (USA), Anthony Blinken declared former President Ricardo Martinelli a corrupt person, the lawyer and president of the PAÍS collective, José “Toto” Álvarez assured that the message of the North Americans is clear, the Panamanian justice does not work.
“It seems that in the United States justice does work, here Mr. Martinelli, he has been in process for I don’t know how many years and he still has not been sentenced,” he said, assuring that the fact that another country declares the former president as corrupt is a situation that fills Panamanians with frustration and shame when seeing how nothing happens in Panama and the actions of the ex-president have no consequence.
Regarding Martinelli’s possible political aspirations, he said that if he becomes a candidate, he does not see the possibility that Panamanians vote for him, since if he becomes president, he will not be able to set foot in the country that is Panama’s largest trade partner, referring to USA.
«How is he going to be president if he cannot even enter the United States, this being the main commercial partner of the Republic of Panama, with whom we have signed treaties, not only on trade but on the subject of the Panama Canal neutrality treaty; So if he were to become president and he can’t even go to the United States to meet with the business community of the United States to tell them to come and invest in Panama, we will definitely be with our hands tied in front of our main trading partner,” he said.
He added that the other direct message of this statement is that the US does not want any deal with Mr. Ricardo Martinelli.
Given the fact that the US government’s announcement came after the arrival of the brothers Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares in Panama, he pointed out that his sons had probably testified against him and that the United States was waiting for his arrival in the country to be able to make the announcement.
