The revelation by Nicolás Petro Burgos that allegedly illicit money went into the electoral campaign of his father, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, is shaking the country because of the seriousness of the accusations and the impact it may have on governance.
Petro Burgos, the first born of the president, triggered the storm when he explained to the prosecutor Mario Burgos that part of the money received illegally from a drug trafficker and businessmen he used for his own benefit and the rest went to Petro’s campaign in 2022.
The prosecutor explained that Nicolás Petro, arrested on Saturday in Barranquilla, made these revelations as part of a collaboration agreement after being charged with the crimes of asset laundering and illicit enrichment.
Nicolás Petro was a candidate for the Governor of the Atlantic in 2019 and is a deputy in the Assembly of this department, a position he agreed to resign as part of the agreement.
The investigation into Petro’s son began in March, after his ex-wife, Daysuris Vásquez, revealed to the magazine Semana that the drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, alias the Marlbor man, delivered a large sum of money to Nicolás Petro, and the same the family of the controversial businessman Alfonso Turc, but indicated that these resources did not enter the presidential campaign.
However, in his agreement, Petro’s son admits that part of the money did go to the presidential campaign, which allegedly also violated financing rules because it exceeded “the limits allowed by law and part of “this money would not have been reported to the electoral authorities”, according to the prosecutor.
In addition to Nicolás Petro’s revelations, the prosecutor presented to the municipal criminal court number 74 with the guarantee control function numerous conversations from the years 2021 and 2022 on WhatsApp, documents and audio files of the couple in which they talk about trafficking ‘influences and marketing with businessmen, politicians and contractors to distribute money from public contracts in the Atlantic.
In these conversations, the names of Gustavo de la Ossa, Pedro Name and Màxim Noriega appear repeatedly. The latter was a candidate for the Governor of the Atlantic for the October elections, but after the arrest of Nicolás Petro the Humane Colombia movement, created by the president, withdrew its support.
The material presented by prosecutor Burgos as evidence was taken from the phone of Daysiris Vásquez, who was also arrested and who, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, handed it over in order to accept the agreement with the justice system after being charged with the crimes of enrichment unlawful and violation of personal data since, after their separation, he spied on Laura Ojeda, current wife of Nicolás Petro.
The revelations have fallen like a bombshell in the country, which was eagerly awaiting the hearing, in which the prosecutor, for the cooperation of the couple, asked for “an insurance measure with house arrest for Nicolás Petro” and “no deprivation of liberty for Day Vásquez”.
Politicians from different parties immediately expressed their astonishment at the seriousness of the allegations and the impact they could have on the governance of the country. “The testimony of Nicolás Petro is a bombshell that shakes the foundations of democracy (and) puts President Petro’s Government in a coma, which will have to spend the rest of its days defending itself, its policies will be in doubt and it will unleash more anger, hatred, frustrations”, said former presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo.
Meanwhile, Senator Jonathan Pulido Hernández, known as Jota Pe Hernández, said he had denounced Petro to the Commission of Accusations. “His son, with evidence in hand, confirmed to the Prosecutor’s Office that the presidential campaign DID RECEIVE irregular money. I request that it be investigated, that every crime be punished and that everyone who is corrupt go to prison,” he said on Twitter.
Petro, meanwhile, stated that he will continue his mandate until 2026 and that “they have tried” to confront him with his son, Nicolás Petro Burgos, to overthrow his Government. “It is clear that they have tried to use the family scars, the wounds; some will heal, others maybe never (…), to try to pave the way for the collapse of the first popular government in Colombia”, said the president in an event with farmers in Sincelejo, capital of the department of Sucre.
Petro, who will mark his first year in power on Monday, stressed that he owes his election “to the people and to no one else” and that is why “it is the people to whom I must answer”. “This Government ends in accordance with the popular mandate, no one else’s”, he said. “We are leaving until the year 2026”, he concluded.
