Face to face with Martinelli – photo YouTube
So finally he came up for air. Our beloved ex-president Ricardo Martinelli, on the run for corruption investigations in Panama and, we think, Italy, appeared on a Florida TV station we had never heard of to give an interview that Panamanians can only watch on the YouTubes. He was guest on the show of Maria Elvira Salazar, who threw him one fluffball extremely critical question after the other (“are your supermarkets under threat as well?”) so we’re sure that all was on the up and the up with this televised confrontation.
We learned many new things. There is no corruption in Panama, our fearless capo told us. Or at least there wasn’t, because now with Varela as the new president, things have radically changed. Gone is the respect for due process that was one of the hallmarks of Martinelli’s administration. Gone is the responsible use of media and thoughtful debate for which the glorious Ricardo was known in the world. His Panama was open to foreigners and guaranteed their investments.
And now, with Varela – who seems to have replaced the PRD as Martinelli’s featured bogeyman – all these great accomplishments are in shambles, to the point that this hard working money laundering supermarket mogul fears for his life and that of his family because Varela wants to kill him dead.
No wonder, then, that Martinelli won’t return to Panama until he has guarantees. Or until he’s being extradited, that is, because cases against him are being built in record time on the isthmus. Or will Obambi protect him?
Anyway, for whom wants to see the latest in this telenovela about a corrupt former klepto-president on the run, here’s one of the videos of the “interview” he gave.
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