As Panama jumps into its boisterous Carnival interval, the celebrations this weekend come amid a weird political drama taking part in out within the capital.

A former president, who can also be a high contender on this yr’s presidential election in Might, has holed himself up within the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama Metropolis, accompanied by his furnishings, together with a settee and a desk, in addition to his canine, Bruno.

Ricardo Martinelli, a 71-year-old conservative businessman who led Panama from 2009 to 2014, was granted asylum by Nicaragua this week after Panama’s Supreme Court docket denied his attraction of a money-laundering conviction that carried with it a 10-year jail sentence.

Mr. Martinelli, who has confronted different legal investigations, contends not solely that the case is politically motivated, but additionally that Panama’s president and vice chairman need to kill him.

As a substitute of going to jail, he mentioned he intends to proceed his presidential marketing campaign from the grounds of the embassy, despite the fact that Panama’s Structure prohibits somebody who has been sentenced to 5 years or extra for deliberately committing a criminal offense from working the nation.

“It’s a must to be very cowardly to disqualify a presidential candidate who’s first within the polls,” he mentioned in a press release posted Wednesday on X, the social media platform. He added: “That’s an assault towards democracy.”

Some polls have proven that Mr. Martinelli is the front-runner. The electoral tribunal has strongly implied he could be disqualified from being on the poll within the coming election.

Panama’s International Ministry mentioned Friday night that it might not grant Nicaragua’s request to permit Mr. Martinelli protected passage to its nation, citing an article of a global settlement on political asylum, ratified by Nicaragua and Panama, stating that nations can not grant asylum to individuals who have been “duly prosecuted” for nonpolitical crimes.

Nicaragua’s International Ministry later responded to Panama’s refusal, saying that political asylum must be revered as a humanitarian proper.

Mr. Martinelli’s spokesman, Luis Eduardo Camacho, mentioned that Panama’s determination on protected passage wasn’t a shock “as a result of this isn’t a democracy. It is a wild state of regulation.”

Fernando Gómez-Arbeláez, a lawyer in Panama who makes a speciality of worldwide regulation, mentioned that permitting Mr. Martinelli to flee the nation could be a nationwide embarrassment.

“The federal government of Panama is aware that letting Martinelli depart the nation this manner could be a mockery of gigantic proportions of the Panamanian justice system,” Mr. Gómez-Arbeláez mentioned.

It was unclear as of Friday evening if the authorities in Panama had issued an order for Mr. Martinelli to be arrested.

Mr. Martinelli was convicted final July in a case wherein prosecutors mentioned that funds have been obtained from authorities contractors for the 2010 buy of a publishing home. Along with the jail sentence, he was fined $19 million.

The previous president has denied wrongdoing.

A number of days after the Supreme Court docket denied his attraction, Mr. Martinelli offered a legal criticism to Panama’s Nationwide Meeting, accusing Panama’s president and vice chairman of tried murder. The criticism alleged that an individual near the president’s workplace had warned of a plot to kill Mr. Martinelli to forestall him from changing into president.

The present president, Laurentino Cortizo, has denied the allegation.

Because the nation’s information headlines centered on the Martinelli state of affairs, the streets of Panama Metropolis on Friday have been congested with individuals speeding to do their purchasing earlier than the beginning of Carnival, a vacation celebrated over 4 days earlier than Ash Wednesday that features parades and dancing within the streets at evening.

Some mentioned that they backed Mr. Martinelli, pointing to how he had led the nation throughout a interval of robust financial progress, accompanied by a multibillion-dollar growth of the Panama Canal.

At a bus terminal, Tais Saldaña, a 23-year-old speech remedy pupil, mentioned she had deliberate to vote for Mr. Martinelli — and that if not for the festivities, individuals could be out protesting to assist him.

“Politics is soiled,” Ms. Saldaña mentioned. “The truth that he’s disqualified takes away a chance from the Panamanian to freely select, to assist a candidate who due to his expertise or what he has achieved in earlier years is a favourite of the Panamanians.”

On the entrance of the Panama Canal, Joel Alvarado, a 28-year-old driver, mentioned that he didn’t imagine Mr. Martinelli was a sufferer of political persecution. “He’s achieved good issues, that’s true, but it surely doesn’t justify that they steal from us; that we work each day they usually steal our taxes shouldn’t be truthful,” he mentioned.

Though Nicaragua is run by a leftist authorities, the conservative Mr. Martinelli mentioned in an interview with CNN a couple of days in the past that he has “an excellent fondness and appreciation for Nicaragua.”

Nicaragua has turn out to be more and more authoritarian, and its officers have confronted sanctions from the US for stripping political dissidents of their citizenship. The nation has additionally been seizing the property of its critics.

However Nicaragua has a historical past of offering protected haven to politicians below legal investigation, mentioned Manuel Orozco, the director of the migration, remittances and improvement program on the Inter-American Dialogue, a assume tank in Washington.

Within the final decade, for instance, Nicaragua has granted refuge to 2 former presidents of El Salvador.

Mr. Martinelli has confronted earlier legal investigations. In 2021, he was acquitted on fees of wiretapping opponents and journalists. He has additionally been implicated in a pending authorized case associated to a multinational bribery scandal involving the Brazilian development firm Odebrecht.

When requested for touch upon the state of affairs in Panama, the State Division talked about that it had beforehand banned Mr. Martinelli from the US for having accepted bribes in alternate for awarding authorities contracts whereas serving as president.

“The US and Panama promote shared democratic values of accountability, rule of regulation and transparency,” it mentioned in a press release.

Mary Triny Zea contributed reporting from Panama Metropolis.