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DE RUEHZP #0029/01 0262133
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FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
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INFO RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBE/AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN 0013
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
RUEHTG/AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA 0067
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000029 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/26 
TAGS: PGOV KJUS PINR PM
SUBJECT: Martinelli Ratchets Up Pressure on Attorney General 
 
REF: 09 PANAMA 765; 09 PANAMA 242; 09 PANAMA 776 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Gilmour, Charge; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
Summary 
 
------------ 
 
 
 
1.(U) With his Supreme Court (CSJ) nominees confirmed, President 
Martinelli appears intent on ousting Attorney General Ana Matilde 
Gomez and bringing the Public Ministry under his personal control. 
Martinelli is after Gomez because of her alleged incompetence and 
unwillingness to prosecute the opposition Revolutionary Democratic 
Party (PRD)  - most prominently former President Ernesto Perez 
Balladares aka "El Toro".   Stacking the CSJ facilitates 
Martinelli's pursuit of his (widely-considered corrupt) political 
enemies in two ways;  by enabling the removal of an independent and 
non-compliant AG, and by ensuring that the court will handle the 
coming cases in accordance with his desires.   Civil society and 
the press are vocally upset and are publicly protesting the moves 
against Gomez and the threat to independent democratic institutions 
in Panama. End Summary. 
 
 
 
Persecuting the Prosecutor 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2. (C) With less than subtle timing, the Martinelli administration 
moved against Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez before the dust 
had settled over the appointment of two new CSJ justices and 
election of the court president. The day after new CSJ president 
Anibal Salas assumed his post, Panama's Solicitor General filed a 
request with the court to remove Gomez, which requires the 
concurrence of a majority of justices. Brand-new Justice and 
Martinelli appointee Jose Almengor, who formerly worked for Gomez 
as a prosecutor, was named to oversee the case.  Almengor joined 
Martinelli's staff in May 2009 after AG Gomez opened an 
investigation against him two months earlier for allowing an 
accused money launderer to leave the country (Ref A).  The 
launderer was connected with David Murcia Guzman, who is currently 
standing trial in the U.S. Since then, there have been allegations 
that Murcia made large campaign donations to both PRD candidate 
Balbina Herrera and Martinelli during last year's presidential 
election (Ref B) - allegations that caused Gomez to request that 
both candidates' immunity be suspended so that she could 
investigate .  Justice Almengor later recused himself after a 
request from Gomez's lawyers and pressure in the media over his 
conflict of interest in the case. 
 
 
 
Ex Post Facto Case Number One 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3. (C) The case against Gomez concerns charges that she ordered an 
unauthorized wiretap on her one of her former drug prosecutors, 
Arquimedes Saez, who was suspected of extortion and bribery.  Saez 
was eventually fired by Gomez in 2005.  The allegation against 
Gomez is "abuse of power", which is not a criminal act and thus is 
not legal grounds for the CSJ to remove her from her position. 
Additionally, her wiretapping of Saez, although not within the 
Attorney General's authority under current Panamanian law, was 
legal at the time that she ordered it carried out. (Ref C) 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) Juan Antonio Tejada, Gomez's defense attorney, who is both a 
 
former prosecutor and ombudsman, said to Polcouns that he had 
assumed Gomez's legal defense, but that it is a political, not a 
legal, case.  According to Tejada, the writing is on the wall and 
she will be removed.  Technically, the CSJ cannot remove her on an 
abuse of powers charge, but they will do it anyway.  The best that 
her defense team can do is buy time for the next issue to be worked 
out: who will succeed her.  Here Panama's constitution contradicts 
itself.  One section says she names her successor herself, which is 
the reason she moved her preferred successor Rigoberto Gonzalez 
from her defense team back to his old Secretary General's job at 
the Public Ministry and hired Tejada.  Another part of the 
constitution says the President would get to name a new AG.  Civil 
society groups are opposed to this course of action, as it would 
give Martinelli control over the last remaining independent 
institution in the government. 
 
 
 
Bull Baiting 
 
--------------- 
 
 
 
¶5. (C) Martinelli has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with 
Gomez over her tepid efforts to prosecute Perez Balladares.  Perez 
Balladares began appearing in the press in August 2009 after 
Martinelli publicly cancelled the gambling concessions  of several 
slot-machine operators, which had been granted during the Perez 
Balladares administration.  It appears that Perez Balladares was 
receiving a steady stream of income from these casinos at the time 
that Martinelli moved against him. A torrent of stories in leading 
daily La Prensa has since followed, including a full page spread of 
cashed checks from the casinos signed by Perez Balladares.  Post 
has been informed by the editor of La Prensa that the person 
supplying the information is none other than President Martinelli 
himself. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (C) The hunt for Perez Balladares boiled over in late December, 
when he was subpoenaed to appear before prosecutors - the first 
time that a former President has been required to do so in Panama. 
In a four-day manhunt, as avidly watched in Panama as the LAPD 
pursuit of OJ Simpson, Perez Balladares at first could not be 
located by authorities.  When he did turn himself in, it was in on 
his terms, as he showed up at the prosecutor's office with his wife 
in a fancy car driven by his nephew, and stayed for only 20 minutes 
before invoking his constitutional rights against incriminating 
himself.  Martinelli then went on national TV,  saying he felt 
"frustrated and made fun of".  In the same breath, he felt 
compelled to add that "he respects the idea of separation of 
powers" i.e. between the executive and the judiciary. 
 
 
 
Ex Post Facto Case Number Two 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7. (C) At its root, the case against Perez Balladares is flawed. In 
the years the transfers were made, "money laundering" was only in 
the criminal code related to narcotrafficking.  Therefore, the 
money laundering charges on casino proceeds won't stand up in court 
and the government does not have a case.  VP/FM Juan Carlos Varela 
admitted to the Ambassador that Martinelli knows this.  According 
to Tejada, civil society is furious with Martinelli for insisting 
that this baseless case be pursued.  While they want to see Preez 
Balladares punished for corruption as much as Martinelli does, 
Panamanian professionals worry that a not-guilty verdict in this 
case will result in the vindication of Perez Balladares and the 
legitimization of his ill-gotten wealth. 
 
Civil Society and the Civilistas Tread Carefully 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
 
 
¶8. (C) The handling of El Toro's arrest appears to have been the 
last straw for Martinelli, dissolving what had looked like a truce 
with the AG.  A few days after the affair, the Solicitor General 
presented his case against Gomez to the newly seated CSJ.  Civil 
society reaction has been uniformly negative.  The National Council 
of Private Enterprise (CONEP) and The Fundacion Ethica y Civilismo 
both took out full page ads in leading dailies decrying the move 
against Gomez, which Martinelli has publicly claimed to have 
nothing to do with.  One editorial characterized the current 
situation as the worst constitutional crisis in Panama since a coup 
attempt in 1990.   Poloff attended an Association of Panamanian 
Executives (APEDE) forum in defense of Gomez, who was formerly 
their general council. Yet direct criticism of Martinelli was 
lacking at the three-hour meeting, where speakers tended to focus 
on the technical and legal merits of the case against Gomez vice 
the animus behind it. 
 
 
 
¶9. (C) The subdued reaction, particularly from the important APEDE 
business association, is partly due to the nature of the governing 
coalition which Martinelli controls.  Many former "civilistas" who 
previously led the charge against an abusive executive power during 
the military dictatorship are now supportive of the anti-PRD 
governing coalition and appear reluctant to publicly criticize 
their leader, though privately they express grave concerns.  The 
main opposition party (the PRD) remains in disarray amidst 
infighting and a serious diminution of their numbers.  Martinelli 
still enjoys unprecedented popularity and has the ability and 
willingness to inflict serious harm on any critics who become too 
vocal.  According to conversations Polcouns has had with civil 
society groups, Martinelli feels that he does not need the 
civilista groups as a bridge to the people - he talks to the people 
directly, and as long as his poll numbers stay up, he sees no 
reason to change his modus operandi.  Civil opposition  may also be 
thrown off-balance by Martinelli's impulsive actions and 
passive-aggressive tactics, which have him in one speech 
admonishing prosecutors "not to be intimidated by those who 
appointed them", and in another implying that El Toro was handled 
too gently by the AG during his subpoena process .  He also 
countered the full-page ads with a GOP communiquC) claiming that his 
administration was acting in the interests of the majority of 
Panamanians against obscure interests while at the same time 
denying any influence in the Attorney General's case. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶10. (C) Comment: The blunt timing of the action against Gomez is 
confirmation of Martinelli's orchestration of the campaign against 
the Attorney General, despite earlier indications that he had 
reached an accommodation with her. The common perception, as 
illustrated in the political cartoon that appeared January 7 and is 
attached below, is that Martinelli now controls the Supreme Court, 
the Comptroller's office, and the National Assembly.  Panamanian 
chief executives have traditionally used CSJ nominations to control 
the institution. However, the unfortunate conjunction of the court 
appointments and his pursuit of the Attorney General AG contradict 
the raison d'etre for his presidency - a change from corrupt 
business as usual governance to a more accountable and legitimate 
rule.  The risk is that Panamanians may loose faith in their 
democracy as the name of Martinelli's  "Democratic Change" party 
takes on an unintended and ironic meaning among the public. 
 
Why is the outcry greater against Martinelli than previous 
presidents?  First , other executives used party apparatus to 
control government institutions.  Martinelli is not from a 
traditional party and doesn't have a structure that can work behind 
the scenes and legitimate his actions.  Therefore, he is acting 
much more directly by placing people he personally can trust and 
control in key positions.  Secondly, he has raised expectations of 
change, and is disappointing those who believed in him very early 
in his presidency vice previous leaders who did so much more 
gradually. 
 
 
 
Why does it matter?  Panama has always squeaked by on mediocre 
institutions.  But mediocrity cannot withstand the rapid rise of 
violent crime related to narcotrafficking.  The security situation 
is at a tipping point.  Civil society professionals sense the 
urgency of the security problem and there is a greater demand than 
ever before for democratic institutions that work. 
 
 
 
 
 
cid:image002.png@01CA9EA4.F3A2AC30 
GILMOUR