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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000776 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID FOR LAC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2019 
TAGS: PGOV KJUS PHUM PINR PM
SUBJECT: ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER PRESSURE 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Debra Hevia for reason 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez has 
reported both publicly and privately that she is receiving 
pressure from the GOP to prosecute former government 
officials, and she vows to resist the pressure and defend the 
independence of the AG's office.  President Martinelli, 
frustrated by what he sees as her intransigence, allegedly is 
pulling strings with supreme court magistrates to orchestrate 
her dismissal, while civil society is coming to her defense. 
Gomez's removal would represent a serious setback to judicial 
independence and the development of democratic institutions 
in Panama.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez is claiming in 
public fora that she is being pressured by the executive 
branch to investigate and imprison certain individuals. 
Privately, she is saying that President Ricardo Martinelli 
intends to have her removed from her post.  The AG represents 
an independent judicial office and serves a 10-year term. 
Gomez was appointed by former president Martin Torrijos in 
2005 to a term that will expire December 31, 2014, six months 
after Martinelli's term ends.  Martinelli reportedly has been 
frustrated by her unwillingness or inability to pursue 
corruption charges against his political rivals, and 
allegedly has been working behind the scenes with supreme 
court magistrates to force her out. 
 
Get El Toro, or Get Out 
----------------------- 
¶3. (C) The Attorney General recently confided in NAS FSN, a 
retired police commissioner who knows Gomez well, that she is 
hanging on by a thread.  She said she had received about 70 
phone calls from Martinelli insisting that she put former 
president for the opposition PRD Ernesto Perez Balladares, 
popularly known as "El Toro" (the bull), in jail.  Allegedly, 
former narcotics prosecutor and current supreme court 
magistrate wannabe Jose Almengor is falsely leading on 
Martinelli by telling him that the AG could have Perez 
Balladares in jail within two weeks.  Gomez told the 
Ambassador that during an October 6 meeting of senior GOP 
security officials at the presidential palace, President 
Martinelli had pulled aside organized crime prosecutor Jose 
Ayu Prado for a private conversation.  Martinelli asked Ayu 
Prado, "What do you need to put El Toro in jail?"  She said 
Ayu Prado was initially flustered by the president's direct 
attempt to influence a prosecutor, but that he quickly 
recovered and told Martinelli that prosecutors needed an 
adequate and independent budget to do their jobs.  (Note: 
Gomez has sought more money, and more fiscal independence 
from the executive branch.  She requested USD89 million for 
2010 and received a budget of USD54 million, which was an 
increase from the 2009 budget of USD43 million, but probably 
well short of what is needed to prepare for the upcoming 
switch to the accusatory system.) 
 
¶4. (C) In addition, the GOP reportedly asked Gomez to pursue 
corruption charges against former Second Vice President 
(under the Torrijos administration) Ruben Arosemena, who also 
held a position in the Panamanian Maritime Authority.  She 
refused to cave to the behind-the-scenes pressure, so in what 
is becoming the modus operandi, the GOP took it public. 
Anticorruption Czar Fernando Nunez Fabrega, also Martinelli's 
cousin, filed a public complaint with the AG's office against 
Arosemena and two associates for "abuse of authority and 
corruption of public officials." 
 
¶5. (C) In an October 6 meeting with the Ambassador, requested 
on an urgent basis by the AG, Gomez said she felt like she 
was alone in her fight to maintain independence from the 
executive branch, but that she was determined not to allow 
the GOP to use the AG's office for political persecution. 
She pointed out that her term will outlast Martinelli's, and 
vowed to fight to save her position until her last breath. 
 
But How? 
-------- 
¶6. (C) The president cannot fire the Attorney General. 
However, the Supreme Court could remove her from office by a 
majority vote if it finds she has committed an offense that 
could carry a jail sentence.  Enter the Saez case. 
Arquimedes Saez was a prosecutor suspended from his job and 
criminally indicted in 2005 for accepting a bribe to free a 
detainee that he was supposed to be prosecuting.  Gomez had 
ordered a wiretap of his phones to gather evidence in the 
case.  In 2007, the supreme court ruled that Gomez did not 
have authority to order the wiretap without judicial control. 
 Saez has now levied a criminal complaint against Gomez for 
abuse of authority in ordering the wiretaps.  Supreme Court 
Magistrate Adan Arjona told DEA FSN (a former prosecutor) 
that President Martinelli has been personally reaching out to 
supreme court magistrates to ask them to decide against 
Gomez, and that Martinelli now has the five of nine votes he 
needs, including Arjona's.  DEA FSN points out that "abuse of 
authority" is not a jailable offense, but that if the supreme 
court members decided to remove Gomez as a result of this 
case, there would be no recourse.  Interestingly, Gomez asked 
the Ambassador October 6 if we could take away Saez's visa 
based on the corruption charges, an indication that she sees 
him and this case against her as a serious threat. 
 
Allies 
------ 
¶7. (C) Gomez may feel like she is alone, but various groups 
have started lining up in her defense.  Civic activist Magaly 
Castillo of the Pro-Justice Alliance and President of the 
Panamanian Bar Association Ruben Elias have both denounced 
government attempts to pressure the AG.  The Panamanian 
Association of Business Executives stands firmly behind 
Gomez, their former legal counsel.  Some newspapers are 
carrying her story with headlines such as "Civil Society 
Defends the AG" and "Gomez Repeats Accusations," leaving the 
GOP in a bad light. 
 
¶8. (C) Comment: Martinelli was rumored in late August to want 
Gomez removed, but seemed to back down.  Based on what we now 
know, Gomez's dismissal by the Supreme Court would indicate 
inappropriate intervention by Martinelli in the independence 
of the judicial branch, and a serious setback for the 
development of democratic institutions in Panama. 
 
STEPHENSON