  We consider static spherically symmetric configurations in a Palatini
extension of General Relativity including $R^2$ and Ricci-squared terms, which
is known to replace the central singularity by a wormhole in the electrovacuum
case. We modify the matter sector of the theory by adding to the usual Maxwell
term a nonlinear electromagnetic extension which is known to implement a
confinement mechanism in flat space. One feature of the resulting theory is
that the non-linear electric field leads to a dynamically generated
cosmological constant. We show that with this matter source the solutions of
the model are asymptotically de Sitter and possess a wormhole topology. We
discuss in some detail the conditions that guarantee the absence of
singularities and of traversable wormholes.
