Wikileaks puts Martinelli back in world spotlight .

Wikileaks puts Martinelli back in world spotlight .


Wikileaks has put Panama and President Ricardo Martinelli back in the world spotlight after reveations that he tried to create a bloc against supporters of  Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.


Wikileaks released a  message sent by the U.S. Embassy in San José, Costa Rica, to Washington talking of a  a brief dialogue during Martinellis nauguration on July 1, 2009 with the then President Oscar Arias Costa Rica and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe.

The secret conversation is part of more than 800  confidential cables provided to  The Nation . It noted that "a source who was present said  Martinelli spoke to Arias on the need for a  CPC (Colombia-Panama-Costa Rica) bloc against Chávez.''
Arias, who was president 2006-2010 period, had  had friction with President Chavez, but sought to calm the situation for fear of economic retaliation from the Venezuelan government that has an aluminum plant in Costa Rica.

San Jose was also looking to reap the benefits of PetroCaribe, a regional agreement to buy Venezuelan oil at a discount.  Uribe had also had  disgreements with the Venezuelan leader.
El Siglo commented: “This is not the first time the controversial Wikileaks website puts the spotlight  onbthe Panamanian leader. On December 25, 2010, the Spanish newspaper El Pais published a cable revealing that President Martinelli asked U.S.ambassador Barbara Stephenson for help in wiretapping political opponents.
“Martinelli’s message sent through his Blackberry said:  'I need help with wiretapping'.”
“The cable revealed that a secret intelligence report that Stephenson sent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on August 22, 2009, about his request to use the Drug Enforecment Agency  (DEA), to combat insecurity and spy on rival politicians.
“One of the strong criticisms made by the diplomat against the Panamanian leader was:  'His tendency to harassment and blackmail may have led to stardom in the world of supermarkets, but has done  little for him as a statesman.
The director of the School of International Relations at the University of Panama, Fermín Gondola, said “The  President cannot be promoting,  creating blocs or goading Venezuela, just because he does not like the style of Chavez.”

The Wikipedia revelations come only a 48 hours  after Venezuela’s Vice President claimed that Colombia’s former head  of secret police, who was given refuge in Panama after she came under investigation, was meeting with Venezuelan exiles in Panama to plot destabilizing actions against the Chavez Government.