(8 Feb 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Panama City, Panama - 7 February 2024
1. Journalists outside Nicaraguan embassy
2. People entering Nicaraguan embassy
3. Close of shield of Nicaragua
4. Martinelli spokesman Luis Eduardo Camacho speaking with reporters
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Luis Eduardo Camacho, Spokesman for Ricardo Martinelli:
"The Government of Nicaragua and its Foreign Ministry evaluated the request under the criteria that we set forth of political persecution, of threat to his personal integrity and to his life, and the Government of Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan State, granted him asylum a few hours ago."
6. Various of workers carrying supplies into Nicaraguan embassy
7. Aerial of workers inside Nicaraguan embassy ++MUTE++
8. Various of Annette Planells
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Annette Planells, President of La Prensa Newspaper:
"Panama needs to turn the page. We have been dealing for more than ten years with the consequences of a government that abused the State's monies and all the people who were responsible or co-responsible with (Ricardo) Martinelli for the embezzlement of the State have yet to be held accountable."
10. Martinelli's lawyer Roniel Ortiz entering Nicaraguan embassy
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Roniel Ortiz, Lawyer for Ricardo Martinelli:
"Wherever he may be, Ricardo (Martinelli) will keep running (for the presidency). Whether he is in a hospital, in a garage, or in a car, Ricardo remains a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. The saddest thing of all is that they have done all this crookedness to bring down the candidate who is most likely based on the polls to win the Presidency of the Republic."
12. Various exteriors of Nicaraguan embassy
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carlos Termed, Panama City Resident:
"It is unfortunate because Panama deserves something else. Martinelli could bring about change, he could bring about change once again."
14. Panama City street
15 . SOUNDBITE (Spanish) José Alvarado, Panama City Resident:
"I think it is shameless because he virtually robbed Panama here, and there is a lot of need here, too much need. What he did was not right."
16. Panama City skyline
STORYLINE:
Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli has received political asylum from Nicaragua days after Panama's Supreme Court denied his appeal over a money laundering conviction that carried a 10-year sentence.
Luis Eduardo Camacho, Martinelli's spokesman, said outside the Nicaraguan embassy Wednesday that “the Government of Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan State, granted him asylum” because of “political persecution, of threat to his personal integrity.”
Nicaragua's Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed that it granted Martinelli asylum in a statement Wednesday.
It said Martinelli requested asylum on the basis of political persecution and imminent risk to his life.
It called on Panama's government to allow his prompt exit to Nicaragua, to which Panama's Foreign Affairs Ministry acknowledged that it had received the advisory from Nicaragua.
Annette Planells, a lawyer and president of the La Prensa Newspaper said the country has “been dealing for more than ten years with the consequences of a government that abused the State's monies.”
"Panama needs to turn the page.”
Martinelli, a 71-year-old businessman and supermarket magnate who governed Panama from 2009 to 2014, wrote in a letter released and confirmed as authentic by his team that politically motivated prosecutions had forced him to seek Nicaraguan asylum.
Martinelli was elected by his party last June as its presidential candidate.
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