LatinNews Daily - 03 August 2020

Panama: On 28 July US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak tweeted that “individuals within the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) would like to give indicted criminals membership as a shield to block their extradition to the US. Doing so would damage the rule of law and promote impunity in the region”. Kozak’s warning was in response to the attempt by the sons of Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014), Luis Enrique and Ricardo Alberto, to obtain immunity from prosecution by swearing in as substitute representatives of Parlacen to avoid extradition to the US on money laundering charges. US prosecutors filed criminal charges on 6 July. Both were elected to Parlacen last year, but they did not attend the swearing-in ceremony on 4 June. This led some to argue that they are not full Parlacen members and do not enjoy immunity. A declaration from Parlacen’s directorate dated 27 July said that, in the event of substitute representatives not attending their swearing-in ceremony, it falls on to the Parlacen office in the specific country to carry out the swearing-in process. The statement notes that the Parlacen office in Panama had received a request to do this on 3 July but it will not swear in the brothers due to the “special characteristics of the case”, adding that the Parlacen directorate had acted correctly throughout the process.

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