Marta Linares de Martinelli

Linares was born in Panama City, Panama. She earned a Bachelor's degree in commerce in the United States, at Saint Mary of the Woods College in Indiana. She later studied insurance brokerage at the University of Panama.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978, she married supermarket chain owner Ricardo Martinelli, with whom she had three children: Ricardo Alberto, Luis Enrique, and Carolina Elizabeth.^[1]

In 1996, her brother, Carlos Luis Linares, was one of the hostages during the Japanese embassy hostage crisis.^[2]

On January 29, 2014, she was chosen to compete for Vice-President of Panama alongside Jose Domingo Arias running for President, but the pair finished in second place.

• Italy
  • Two Sicilian Royal Family: Dame Grand Cross of Merit of the Two Sicilian Royal Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George^[3]
• Portugal: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (29 July 2013)