Do we like them?Do we like José Raúl Mulino?
Our score: 4 out of 10. Nothing found against LGBTQ+ people, but a heavy-handed record on protests and unions, an unresolved probe he denies, and little documented good.
Mulino is a Tulane-trained lawyer who practised maritime law and first came to notice in the civic movement against dictator Manuel Noriega. He served as a vice minister of foreign affairs under President Guillermo Endara, then backed Ricardo Martinelli's 2009 run and became his minister of interior and justice and later of public security. In 2024 he replaced Martinelli on the ticket after Martinelli was disqualified following a money laundering conviction, and he won the presidency in May.
The big stain is the radar case. Mulino was held in preventive detention from 26 October 2015 while prosecutors investigated alleged irregularities in the purchase of 19 radars from an Italian firm's subsidiary. A judge ordered his immediate release in April 2016 and he has maintained his innocence. In August 2016 the Supreme Court declined to admit his constitutional appeal on a technical step. Nothing in the sources I read shows a conviction.
As security minister he faced sharp criticism over a 2010 police operation against Indigenous banana growers that left two dead and more than 100 injured. AFP says he arrived in the top job with a reputation for a strong temperament and authoritarian leanings, and a Tico Times analysis said the press recalled his handling of protests under Martinelli. He told the country after his win that he doesn't laugh much but knows how to do things the way they should be done.
On the harm test, I found no words from Mulino aimed at LGBTQ+ people, and no campaign by him against them. The one thing on the record is that eight presidential candidates were invited to sign an LGBTQ rights pact in 2024 and none showed up, Mulino included. The article gives no reason, so it's a gap rather than a charge. On his company, the Martinelli link is the obvious one, but that's a mentor, not a hate platform.
In June 2025 he declared a state of emergency in Bocas del Toro after weeks of protests over pension changes, suspending freedom of assembly and movement, and authorities cut mobile and home internet there. The unrest left one dead and more than 100 arrested, while officials said hooded people looted businesses. Mulino has also called the Suntracs construction union a “mafia”. The government sued to dissolve it, and its leaders, accused of money laundering, deny the charges and call them political persecution.
Lately he has been slow and careful on the mine: in January he aimed to decide by June, and by October the report was in but no decision made. On crime, in May 2026 he said “No vamos a negociar con pandillas” and called for tougher pretrial detention. His temper showed in November 2025 when he said he had told electoral magistrates he'd set the country ablaze if they conspired to stop him running, a line that sits badly with a democrat's brief.