(CNN Spanish) –– The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, asked this Friday the Attorney General of the Nation to carry out the necessary investigations into a corruption complaint that his ex-daughter-in-law mentioned in a journalistic interview.
“Due to the information that is rumored in public opinion regarding my brother Juan Fernando Petro Urrego and my eldest son, Nicolás Petro Burgos, I ask the Attorney General of the Nation to carry out all the necessary investigations and determine possible responsibilities,” Petro declared in a statement.
The Attorney General’s Office, for its part, confirmed this Friday that this process has already begun.
Petro’s pronouncement coincided with a publication in the magazine Week. Day Vásquez, ex-wife of Nicolás Petro, stated in an interview with the director of that medium, Vicky Dávila, that the president’s son received large sums of money from former drug traffickers, politicians and other individuals investigated and convicted of corruption. Vásquez also assures that she had already told the president the same thing and that he “had no idea” of the alleged facts, while, she says, he was very disappointed by the alleged conduct of her son and the brother of her
Gustavo Petro, according to a source from the Colombian Presidency, met in recent days with Attorney General Francisco Barbosa, whom he asked to investigate the facts.
Vásquez declares in the interview that her ex-husband would have received money from these people before, during and following the presidential campaign that brought Gustavo Petro to power. However, he insisted that the president was never aware of this and that the resources never reached the campaign because Nicolás Petro would have taken them for his benefit. This is a part of the interview published this Thursday by Week.
Day Vasquez: I spoke with President Petro and told him everything.
Vicky Dávila: How was that conversation with the president? When it was?
D. V.: It was like 20 days ago.
V. D.: Were you at the Palace or did you meet elsewhere?
D. V.: I was in the Palace.
V. D.: What did the president say?
D.V: No, basically for him to tell her everything he knew. I told him, you can’t lie to him.
V. D.: Clear.
D. V.: I think if you tell him a lie, he gets it super fast. I told him everything, the same thing he told you.
V. D.: And what did he say?
D. V.: Worried and disappointed too because I had no idea regarding it.
V. D.: Do you remember the particular words the president said to you when he was so disappointed?
D. V.: That Nicolás was going to get into trouble and that, therefore, he would also end up in trouble because of his son. He is the son. But I told him: all this, I have always said, was behind the president’s back. The president had no idea regarding this.
Once the president’s statement and the interview published by WeekNicolás Petro also spoke publicly on his Twitter account: “Regarding the statement released by my father, Gustavo Petro Urrego, President of the Republic, I would like to reiterate his request to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation to carry out a thorough investigation and effective with the issues related in said statement and clarify any harmful and unsubstantiated rumors once morest me.”
Nicolás Petro added: “Likewise, I request the attorney general to be as speedy as possible on this matter, since I clarify that neither before, nor during, nor following the presidential campaign, have I been involved in matters related to “Total Peace.” I have not met, nor have I received any type of political, personal or economic favor from any questionable character.”
The Colombian Congress approved on October 26 the Total Peace Law that authorizes the president to seek peace with guerrilla groups and criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking, through negotiation and processes of submission to justice.
“My commitment to Colombia, and to Colombian men and women, is to achieve peace and those who want to interfere with that purpose, or take personal advantage of it, have no place in the government, even if they are members of my family. I trust that my brother and my son can prove their innocence, but I will respect the decisions reached by justice,” the president said in a statement on Thursday.
And it is that sectors of the opposition, and even of the ruling Pacto Histórico party itself, have described this situation as very serious and have asked the judicial authorities to act immediately. Prosecutor Margarita Cabello announced a disciplinary investigation once morest Nicolás Petro, deputy of the Assembly of the department of Atlántico, in his capacity as a public official.
Juan Fernando Petro, the president’s brother, has not yet ruled on the issue, but in recent days he told the local media that drug trafficking sectors would be seeking rapprochement with him to seek benefits within the framework of “total peace.”
“They have used my name to negotiate, I know that this happens, although I am not sure who does it and I have information that there are people who pay from 20 to 800 million pesos to have an appointment with me. They charge to go on a date with me,” he said, according to the newspaper. The Herald.
CNN has reached out to Juan Fernando Petro to get his version of this scandal, but we haven’t had a response yet.
There is a real barrage of criticism of the government for this situation, especially since an initiative that seeks to grant legal benefits to drug traffickers who submit to justice within the “total peace” scheme is currently being studied in Congress. This includes possible agreements with various illegal armed groups, including criminal gangs at the service of drug trafficking and FARC dissidents.
“With what they defend themselves: the money did not arrive because the president’s son stole it. The president did not know (went behind his back),” said Senator Paloma Valencia, of the Democratic Center party.
“The scandal related to the brother and son of President Petro is devastating damage to alternative politics, both in the case of the alleged payments in prisons and the alleged financing that never reached the campaign,” said the senator from the Alianza Verde party. , Ariel Avila.
“I recognize the gallantry of the president in requesting the investigations of his brother and son. But here the political responsibility must be assumed by the high commissioner, Danilo Rueda. Improvisation, lack of suitability, multiple blunders. Rueda must step aside, “he said the national representative for the Alianza Verde party, Cathy Juvianao.
Following the accusations, the Attorney General’s Office confirmed in a statement on Friday that they gave rise to President Petro’s request to investigate his brother and son. The text indicates that a group of prosecutors, investigators and experts was formed to review the complaints once morest Nicolás Petro. In addition, it indicates that “the first proceedings with the complainant Day Vásquez have already begun.” Regarding the president’s brother, Juan Fernando Petro, the Prosecutor’s Office added that there is already an open process on this issue.