LESS THAN four months after ex-president Ricardo Martinelli fled Panama and went into self-imposed exile, the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) which had ruled that he had no immunity from prosecution in Panama, has awarded his successor, President Juan Carlos Varela, its highest decoration.

The body that Martinelli once called “a den of thieves”, and to which he now belongs as a “deputy,” is poised to grant Varela The Grand Cross of the "Order of Francisco Morazan. Gone are the differences between Parlacen and the Panamanian government, over the failed legal strategy to break relations a few years ago, under Martinelli and Varela, then vice presient. Now a proposal from deputies of the caucuses of Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, as well as Panama want to deliver the "Order of Francisco Morazan to Varela, who, as chancellor, was commissioned by Martinelli in 2009 to announce Panama’s exit from Parlacen.
During his campaign for the 2009 elections, Martinelli had promised to take the country out of the regional forum.
In February 2012, Panama’s Supreme Court declared the attempt to leave Parlacen unconstitutional and ordered the country’s reinstatement
The proposal to honor Varela, has the support Panamanian Parlacen deputies Priscilla Miró, Exberto Cedeno, Abelardo Muñoz of the Panameñista Party; and Gilberto Succari, the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).
A Parlacen press release says the award is based on Varela’s performance at the Summit of the Americas in April.
”The Order Francisco Morazan is the highest award granted to Central American VIPs, in the exercise of their public functions contributing to strengthening peace in Central America and the development and integration in this region."says the release.
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On July 1, 2014, one day after leaving office, Ricardo Martinelli took refuge in the Central American Parliament and sought to obtain a ruling of impunity from prosecution, which he failed to get.