The Government of Panama formally apologized to Brazil for the deportation of journalist and former Brazilian minister Franklin Martins, who was detained last Friday at Tocumen International Airport while making a stopover en route to Guatemala. The information was released by the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), which also published the letter sent by Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil following the incident. In the letter, Panama's top diplomat explained that the incident was due to the 'automatic application of immigration procedures' based on data from automated alert systems, which led to the detention of the former Brazilian official. Martins, who was Minister of Social Communication Secretariat during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's second term (2007-2010), was intercepted by immigration agents upon disembarking in Panama for a connecting flight to Guatemala. According to the former minister himself, two police officers checked his passport and took him to a reserved room at the airport, where he was interrogated for several hours by immigration authorities. During the interrogation, agents asked him about a detention that occurred in 1968 in Brazil, during the military dictatorship (1964-1985). After being held for several hours in immigration facilities, Panamanian authorities notified him that he could not continue his journey to Guatemala and put him on a return flight to Rio de Janeiro. Following the diplomatic intervention of the Brazilian government, which requested explanations for what happened, Panama sent a letter of apology to Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, expressing regret for the incident. In the document, the Panamanian government emphasized that what happened 'does not reflect the respect and consideration' that the country has for Martins' public career and assured that he will always be welcome in Panama. Martins believes that his deportation may have been related to security records linked to his activity as an opponent of the military regime and his participation in a guerrilla group at that time.
