PANAMA’S  fugitive ex- President Ricardo Martinelli was arrested  at 6:30 pm on Monday June 12  in Coral Gables Miami, Florida

He was arrested by US federal agents, who will hold him in custody until the protocol proceedings for his extradition to Panama are exhausted.

The surprise move  set off  meetings at night between the Foreign Ministry team and the Executive to schedule the details of the extradition process, while , his teams of lawyers in Panama  and Miamii met to analyze the new situation of the ex-authoritarian ruler facing over a dozen charges including corruption embezzlement  and wiretapping that if found guilty could lead to  jail sentences totaling over 40 years

Martinelli fled Panama on January 28, 2015, the same day that the full Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) decided, in an extraordinary session, to open an investigation of wiretapping of 150  opposition politicians, journalists,  lawyers and businessmen.

The decision was made based on a proposal by Judge Oydén Ortega.

Since then, Martinelli remained in self-exile in Miami, where he continued to pull the strings of the Democratic Change party he founded on his way to the presidency.

He created a mantra, repeated by his followers that a dozen cases against him for multiple crimes are political persecution on the part of the current administration of Juan Carlos Varela.

He has boasted at times that he will return in triumph and hold a cross-country parade similar to that of the military dictator, Omar Torriojos.

He recently said he would run for mayor of Panama in 2019, and for president in 2024.

In September 2016, Panama requested the extradition of Martinelli in the wiretapping case. It was issued by the judge of guarantees Jerónimo Mejía.

In May, this Interpol issued a red alert for his capture, but it is not until now that the United States appears to have denied the asylum to the former president that his detention occurs, in order to initiate the extradition process requested by Panama.

BACKGROUND
The judge of guarantees applied the extradition request of the ex- president through the  1904 Treaty of Extradition between the United States and Panama, and the Multilateral Convention of Extradition signed in by  both countries in Dec, 1933.

In the 36-page document, Mejía requested the arrest of Martinelli for the purposes of extradition to Panama on the basis of the provisional arrest warrant issued on December 21, 2015, by the Supreme Court, Empoweering him as judge of guarantees in the case to enforce compliance with the action.

On October 9, 2016, the prosecutor presented an indictment against Martinelli as the perpetrator of the crimes against the inviolability of the secret and right to privacy described in articles 167 and 168 of the Criminal Code, as well as offenses against public administration, and different forms of embezzlement contemplated in articles 338 and 341 of the same Code.

On February 3, 2016, the public prosecutor's office sent five complaints against Martinelli to the Supreme Court related to an investigation of wiretaps, and  requested extradition..

On September 23, the Court admitted two new criminal cases for alleged corruption against Martinelli, one for a million dollar fraud inthe Financial Pacific brokerage, and another for  payment of bribes from the collection of delinquent taxes by the private company. Isthmus.

On October 9, prosecutor Harry Diaz accused Martinelli of illegal wiretapping.

The judge of the Court declared Martinelli 'in rebellion' for not having appeared at the wiretap  hearing and requests the Court to authorise his preventive detention.

Martinelli’s legal teams
Billionaire Martinelli has batteries of lawyers in Panama and the US

In Panama, Carlos Carrillo, on behalf of Martinelli's team of lawyers, said on Monday  that the former president had already been notified by of this procedure and how it would proceed to comply with the process.

Carrillo stressed, reports La Estrella  that they consider that the United States is a country of laws in which Martinelli’srights and guarantees of will be respected and given due process.

Carrillo also said that his team of defenders in the United States is informed of the procedure and in time will interpose all the resources provided by law.

He said that from now on, his lawyers in Miami will be the only ones who will give statements related to the process. In Panama,  there will be no other statement.