Colombia Grants Asylum to Richard Martinelli, Ex-President of Panama

The Colombian government said on Saturday that it had granted asylum to Ricardo Martinelli, a former president of Panama who had been sheltering for more than a year in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City to evade a prison sentence for money laundering.

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had granted Mr. Martinelli asylum and arranged for him to travel by diplomatic car from the Nicaraguan embassy to a local airport to catch a flight to Colombia.

Mr. Martinelli, 73, a businessman who led Panama from 2009 to 2014, said on social media late Saturday that he had arrived in Bogotá, the Colombian capital. He said he had been granted asylum as a political refugee.