Ex-Panama president drops fight against extradition

MIAMI – Former Panama president Ricardo Martinelli has dropped his legal battle against extradition from the U.S. to his home country to face political espionage and embezzlement charges.

Martinelli had been appealing a Miami judge’s order requiring that he be sent back to Panama. Court documents filed Thursday show that Martinelli’s lawyers want that appeal dismissed at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The State Department makes the ultimate decision on extradition.

The 66-year-old Martinelli, Panama’s president from 2009 to 2014, is accused of embezzlement and illegally monitoring phone calls and other communications using an extensive surveillance system. Martinelli claims the charges are false and are retribution by political enemies.

Martinelli has been jailed in Miami since his June 2017 arrest at his waterfront home.