The government detained and then deported to Brazil, last Friday (6), the journalist and former minister of Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication), when he was on a stopover to Guatemala City, where he would participate in a seminar.
Panamanian agents interrogated him, photographed him and collected fingerprints, then put him on a flight back to Rio de Janeiro. Franklin attributed the incident to his imprisonment during the military dictatorship and the intense collaboration between the Panamanian and American governments.
The Brazilian government asked the Panamanian Foreign Ministry for explanations, which on Sunday (8) issued a formal apology. “Mr. Franklin de Souza Martins will always be welcome in Panama and we will be pleased to welcome him to our country,” the message says.
In a report sent to , Franklin says he was approached upon arrival at the airport by two plainclothes police officers and taken to an interrogation room. There they asked him to fill in personal details and asked if he had already been arrested.
“[O policial] He focused especially on the item about my arrest in 1968, in Ibiúna. I preferred not to go into details. I simply replied that I had been arrested for political reasons. Brazil lived under a military dictatorship and I had fought against it for 21 years – and that was not a crime, but a duty for the democrats”, says the report.
Franklin was arrested at the Congress of the National Union of Students, in Ibiúna (SP), in 1968. Afterwards, he was part of a guerrilla group that participated in the kidnapping of the American ambassador to Brazil, Charles Burke Elbrick, exchanged for political prisoners of the military dictatorship.
The former minister reports that he asked the Panamanian agents the reason for the arrest, and that they cited the 2008 Migration Law, which prohibits connections via Panama for passengers who have committed serious crimes, including kidnappings.
He says he was taken to another room, next to the immigration counter, where he was photographed from the front and in profile and had his fingerprints taken.
“At least, the Migración employees were more sociable. They allowed me to go to the bathroom. They authorized the purchase of a hamburger at lunch. They helped recharge my cell phone. And they tried to show friendliness, implying that they knew that, sometimes, mistakes were made with the ‘retained'”, says the report.
Franklin was put on a flight to Rio de Janeiro at around 2pm. In Brazil, he received his passport back.
In response to the query made by Sheetthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that minister Mauro Vieira contacted the chancellor of Panama and he sent a message apologizing and saying that Franklin Martins is welcome in that country.
“Allow me to express, on behalf of the National Government of Panama, our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this situation, which occurred within the scope of the strictly administrative application of automatic immigration procedures”, says the message from the Panamanian chancellor.
“At the same time, we wish to convey that Mr. Franklin de Souza Martins will always be welcome in Panama and we will be pleased to welcome him to our country on a date he deems convenient, in a spirit of respect, friendship and consideration for his personal and professional career.”
See below the report sent by former minister Franklin Martins to Itamaraty and the apology from the Panamanian government
Report by former minister Franklin Martins
“On March 6, 2026, shortly after 1:00 am, I left Galeão airport aboard a Copa Airlines plane. My final destination was Guatemala City, where I would participate for three days in a seminar promoted by the initiative “Reconstructing welfare states in the Americas”, at Rafael Landívar University. On the way, I would make a connection in Panama City.
We arrived there around 6:00 am. The flight to the capital of Guatemala was supposed to leave two and a half hours later. When disembarking the plane, at the end of the “finger” leading to the entrance to the international area of the airport, two plainclothes police officers asked passengers for their passports, which were quickly examined and returned. When I handed in my document, one of the agents went to his colleague (probably his superior) and handed him the passport. Immediately the policeman asked me to accompany him. I asked him why. He simply replied that he needed to do an interview with me.
He took me to a closed area, still in the international part of the airport, which had no identification. When we arrived, he asked me to sit on a chair in front of the table and went to the next room. He spoke to someone and came back in a few minutes. The two spaces were separated by a large glass wall. Through it, the chief interrogators and other police officers, without being seen by the person being interrogated, could follow everything that was happening and being said in the next room.
The agent asked me to fill out a document with my details (name, profession, age, address, reason for traveling, whether I had already been arrested, reason for arrest, etc.). I asked the reason for the interview and he didn’t want to answer. He said it was a standard procedure authorized by the 2008 migration law and that he would give me other information later. And he started asking questions that, in general, just repeated what was already stated in the document I had filled out. He asked me for proof that I would participate in a seminar at a university in Guatemala. I showed him the schedule, which he photographed. He took photos of me too and took my fingerprints three times.
Visibly, the police officer was trying to buy time. He focused especially on the item about my arrest in 1968, in Ibiúna. I preferred not to go into details. I simply replied that I had been arrested for political reasons. Brazil lived under a military dictatorship and I had fought against it for 21 years – and that was not a crime, but a duty for the democrats. After a few more unimportant questions, he asked me to wait. He entered the next room, separated from the room we were in by the large glass wall. And he never came back.
After about 20 minutes alone in the room, worried about the possibility of missing the flight from Panama to Guatemala, which would leave at eight o’clock in the morning, I knocked on the door several times. They didn’t respond. Shortly afterwards, another police officer came to talk to me. He said my case had been decided by his superiors. I couldn’t travel to Guatemala. He would be deported back to Brazil on the first flight to Rio de Janeiro. I asked him the reason. He didn’t explain it clearly either. Like his colleague, he spoke again about the 2008 Migration Law. He said that it determined that foreigners could not enter Panama or make connections to other countries through Panama if they had committed crimes considered serious, such as drug trafficking, financial crimes, murders, kidnappings, etc. Once again I stated that I had not committed any crime, but had fought against a dictatorship. And I was proud of it.
I then asked them to contact the Brazilian Embassy or allow me to make a phone call to our diplomatic representation. The police officer replied that they would not do that. He claimed that it was a sovereign and exclusive decision of the Panamanian authorities.
At around 10:00 in the morning, I left the room accompanied by two police officers – without identification, but probably members of the National Police – and was taken downstairs, being confined in a Migración de Panamá room, next to the travelers’ passport control counters. I stayed there for another four hours without any explanation. Again, I was photographed from the front and profile. They took my fingerprints twice.
At least the Migración employees were more sociable. They allowed me to go to the bathroom. They authorized the purchase of a hamburger at lunch time. They helped recharge my cell phone. And they tried to show sympathy, implying that they knew that, sometimes, mistakes were made with those “retained”. They spoke again about the 2008 Law, but let slip that its application had become stricter after recent government decrees. In 2025, the USA and Panama signed very comprehensive agreements in the area of security.
Shortly after 2:00 pm, another Migración employee, carrying my passport and Copa Airlines ticket from Panama City to Rio de Janeiro, accompanied me to the boarding gate. The document was handed over to the chief flight attendant, with the determination that it would only be returned to me in Rio. When we arrived in the Marvelous City, the flight attendant handed it over to a Brazilian Copa Airlines employee, who accompanied me to the Federal Police room next to the passport control counters. Within a minute, I received the document back.
A final observation: it is clear that this was not a random operation. It was planned, probably by crossing information from Panamanian and/or North American databases – cooperation between the security bodies of the two countries is intense – with the names of the passengers on the flight. I don’t believe it was a persecution of me. They should be adopting this procedure as a standard. Perhaps it is a sign of the turbulent times we are living in.
Should anyone who fought against the military dictatorship in Brazil and, at some point, was convicted by the military courts of that time, not be warned if they visit Panama or even make a connection to another country? Wouldn’t it be the case for the Brazilian government, through its diplomatic representatives, to talk about these abuses with the Panamanian authorities?”
Apology from the Panamanian government
Your Excellency
Mauro Viera
Cordial greetings.
I am writing to you in relation to the recent incident that occurred at Tocumen International Airport, involving Brazilian citizen Franklin de Souza Martins, who was in transit to Guatemala and was denied entry due to the automatic application of immigration procedures based on information from the automated alert systems used by our authorities.
After analyzing the incident, I would like to express that this event does not in any way reflect the consideration and respect that the Government of the Republic of Panama has for Mr. de Souza Martins, nor for his distinguished public career as a journalist and public servant in Brazil during the governments of President Luiz Inácio da Silva.
Allow me to express, on behalf of the National Government of Panama, our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this situation, which occurred within the scope of the strictly administrative application of automatic immigration procedures.
At the same time, we wish to convey that Mr. Franklin de Souza Martins will always be welcome in Panama and we will be pleased to welcome him to our country on a date he deems convenient, in a spirit of respect, friendship and consideration for his personal and professional career.
I take this opportunity to reiterate Panama’s deep appreciation for the Federative Republic of Brazil and its distinguished diplomatic leadership. Relations between our two countries are excellent, characterized by close cooperation, fluid political dialogue and sincere friendship between our governments and between the presidents of both nations.
Reiterating my highest and most distinguished greetings, I send you my most cordial greetings.
Javier Eduardo Martínez-Acha Vásquez
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Panama
