Uncertainty surrounding former president Ricardo Martinelli roils Panama's presidential race

Not a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering nor going into political asylum in Nicaragua’s embassy have softened the political aspirations of Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli who still seeks to retake that position

PANAMA CITY -- Not a 10-year prison sentence for money laundering nor going into political asylum in Nicaragua’s embassy have weakened the political aspirations of Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli who still seeks to retake the presidency.

Just last week a judge sentenced the former leader to prison. Then Wednesday, he popped up in Nicaragua’s embassy and received political asylum from President Daniel Ortega’s government before he could be arrested.

Election authorities are expected to rule at any time that he is ineligible to compete in the May 5 election, because Panama’s constitution bars anyone given a sentence of five years or more from running for president or vice president.

Martinelli has denied any wrongdoing and calls his legal troubles a political persecution, which were the grounds for granting his asylum request, according to the Nicaraguan government.

On Friday, Brian A. Nichols, the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, tweeted on X that Nicaragua's decision to grant Martinelli asylum “is yet another move to undermine the rule of law and subvert justice.”