In 2017, the television network Univision reported that Panama’s National Security Council signed a contract with NSO Group for the use of Pegasus, that the government of Panama paid $13.4 million for the spyware and that 150 people were listed for potential surveillance by the government of Panama, including at least two Americans.
In July 2021, a couple of days after the revelations of the Pegasus Project, Panamanian media reported that Panamanian intelligence services bought Pegasus for $8 million and that it used the spyware between 2012 and 2014, citing information obtained by the Panamanian Public Ministry, who prosecuted former president Ricardo Martinelli for alleged espionage on at least 150 citizens (Martinelli was acquitted in November 2021).