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### Viewing cable 09PANAMA776, ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER PRESSURE

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09PANAMA776 | 2009-10-19 21:14 | 2011-04-07 00:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Panama
Appears in these articles: http://www.padigital.com.pa/periodico/edicion-actual/wikileaks-panama-interna.php?story_id=1027140&codeth=1593

`

    VZCZCXYZ0000
    PP RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHZP #0776/01 2922114
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 192114Z OCT 09
    FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3864
    INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 0015
    RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 0021
    RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA 0676
    RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 3878
    RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 2074
    RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 1605
    RUEHTG/AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA 0471
    RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
    RHMFISS/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
    RHMFISS/DIRJIATF SOUTH
    RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
    RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
    RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
    RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

` `

    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

`