AS A BATTERY of lawyers for Panama’s ex-president  are  working on strategies to block his extradition from the United States, to face charges of illegal surveillance, reports are circulating around the world about Mexico authorities using the same hacking software [Pegasus]used by Martinelli’s government to spy on political opponents  journalists and critics of his administration.

Last weekend, The New York Times (NYT) reported in a  front page story: “Mexico’s most prominent human rights lawyers, journalists and anti­corruption activists have been targeted by advanced spyware sold to the Mexican government on the condition that it be used only to investigate criminals and terrorists”.

It was referring to the software created by the Israeli company NSO Group which sold the software to Panama. It disappeared after Martinelli was succeeded as president by Juan Carlos Varela.

Martinelli left his home country soon after and now faces up to 21 years in jail if convicted for spying activities.

The Israeli cyber arms manufacturer claims that they verify each country’s human rights history before selling them the espionage software.

But, in the light of what has been discovered, the exam appears to be superficial says the NYT.

In Mexico, the list of those that have been spied includes, for example, lawyers that were investigating the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa; an economist that helped draft a bill against corruption, two  f the country’s most influential journalists and an American citizen who represents victims of sexual abuse committed by the Mexican police.

In Panama, during Ricardo Martinelli’s government, those who were spied fit a very similar profile: lawyers, political adversaries, journalists (among them, some from La Prensa),

The NYT  published, in 2010, a story that revealed Martinelli’s demands to use Matador, a wiretapping program to spy on political adversaries, even threatening to expel the DEA from Panama if the United States removed its equipment from the Security Council. Martinelli even warned that he would replace the DEA with services from Israel.

Martinelli even warned that he would replace the DEA with services from Israel.