2023-07-29 16:03:17
Image of the current president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and his son Nicolás Petro Burgos, representative for the Atlantic and who was arrested on the morning of this Saturday, July 29, for the crime of money laundering and illicit enrichment. /Photo: Colprensa
A political upheaval took place in Colombia since the morning of Saturday, July 29, after the Attorney General’s Office reported that it had arrested Nicolás Petro Burgos, son of the current Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, and his ex-wife, Day Vásquez, for the crimes of money laundering and illicit enrichment.
The capture of the deputy for the department of Atlántico, which caused a national uproar since it became the first arrest of the son of a Colombian president in office, is the result of an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office that dates back months.
The story of the arrest of the son of the current Colombian president began on March 2, when his ex-wife, Day Vásquez, gave an explosive interview to Semana magazine in which she revealed that Petro Burgos received more than 600 million pesos from former drug traffickers in the year 2022 to finance the presidential campaign of his father, the current Colombian head of state. The striking thing about the case is that the outlandish sums of money never arrived because the young deputy decided to keep them to buy a luxurious mansion in Barranquilla, capital of the department of Atlántico.
“There are things that I think should be known, things that Nicolás has done. Everything has been behind the father’s back, I must clarify that, I must say things as they are. Everything he has done since 2022, well, ending 2021 and beginning 2022, which was the electoral or pre-electoral period,” Vásquez said at the beginning of his interview with the Bogota publication.
Nicolás Petro and Days Vásquez on April 11, 2019, their wedding day. The now ex-partner was arrested for money laundering. | Photo: Instagram @gustavopetrourrego
According to Vásquez’s account, Petro Burgos received more than 600 million pesos from former drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, alias the Marlboro Man, to finance the presidential campaign of the current Colombian head of state.
“That never legally reached the campaign because he kept that money, and so on. A man from Cartagena, Turco Hilsaca, I think his name is; He also received him in my apartment ”, recalled the ex-wife of Petro Burgos in her dialogue with Semana.
The man Vásquez was referring to is Alfonso Del Cristo Hilsaca, better known as El Turco Hilsaca, and who has not only been related to drug trafficking, but has also been investigated for money laundering, ties to criminal groups and other crimes. According to the story of the ex-wife of the Atlantic deputy, the questioned businessman would have given Petro Burgos 400 million pesos for the same electoral contest.
“First he gave him 200 and, after ten or eight days, he gave him another 200,” Vásquez assured the aforementioned outlet.
Image of the former drug trafficker ‘El Hombre Marlboro’ and the questioned businessman ‘El Turco Hilsaca’, accused of delivering money to finance Gustavo Petro’s campaign in an irregular manner. /Photos: Facebook Samuel Santander Lopesierra and Colprensa
According to the young woman, the million-dollar sum of money that Santander Lopesierra would have given to Petro Burgos was made through her “political godfather” and current candidate for governor of the department of Atlántico, Máximo Norway.
“Mr. (Lopesierra) never gave anything directly to Nicolás. Everything was through Máximo ”, Vásquez assured Semana, while he explained that, as far as he knows, there were a total of three money deliveries, all in cash.
The “dirty money” as Day called it was kept in the safe of the house he shared with Nicolás while they were still married. The million-dollar sums, according to Vásquez, were intended for the purchase of a luxurious home valued at 1,600 million pesos that is located in Villa Campestre, one of the most opulent areas of Barranquilla, the capital of the department of Atlántico.
“In fact, I have the chat where he tells me… because once my car ran out of battery, it started to bother me and it wouldn’t turn on. And he in the chat tells me: ‘I am not going to buy another car, because we are going to take that money that is there to buy a house,’” the woman captured today by the Prosecutor recalled to Semana magazine, adding that with that money they managed to pay 60% of the total value of the home, that is, 793 million pesos.
According to experts, Day Vásquez’s explosive statements were the result of Nicolás Petro’s infidelity with his best friend at the time, Laura Ojeda, who is currently the young congressman’s sentimental partner and with whom he is expecting a baby.
The luxurious house that Nicolás Petro wanted to buy had its own private pool. /Photo: Square Meter
The luxurious mansion in which Day Vásquez and Nicolás Petro were going to live has 436 square meters, is located in an exclusive country area, and according to the real estate company’s review, it does not lack any luxury.
With German architecture, thermo-acoustic windows, thermal insulation on the ceiling and ceiling, the opulent mansion has it all: from a private pool and three garages, to four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
The opulence of the house was such that when Nicolás Petro’s mother, Katia Burgos, went to see her for the first time, she asked if he was “traqueto”, as evidenced in the chats that Day Vásquez shared with Semana magazine.
The luxurious house that Nicolás Petro wanted to buy with money from ex-narcos had a total of three parking spaces. /Photo: Metrocuadrado.com
The “innovative house” as described by the real estate company is complemented by its “lookout terrace and interior garden in the residential complex with the largest green areas in the sector.” By March of this year, the rental of the property, according to the company, amounted to 11,000,000 million pesos.
After the explosive revelations of Day Vásquez became known, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Friday, March 3, 2023, that it had opened an investigation against Nicolás Petro, son of President Gustavo Petro, to verify the versions of his ex-wife.
The judicial body indicated at the time that it formed a group of prosecutors, investigators and experts to carry out the respective proceedings. “Faced with the safety of Mrs. Day Vásquez, the Prosecutor’s Office, headed by the director of the CTI Technical Investigation Corps and the director of Protection and Assistance, are examining the risk conditions of the complainant to generate the necessary protection conditions.” , stressed the accusing entity.
Archive image of President Gustavo Petro, who requested last March that his son Nicolás Petro be investigated. /Photo: Europa Press/Contact/Chepa Beltran / Vwpics
The judicial body’s decision was made known just one day after President Gustavo Petro himself will ask the entity to investigate his son Nicolás Petro and his brother, Juan Fernando Petro Urrego.
“I trust that my brother and my son can prove their innocence but I will respect the conclusions reached by justice,” the president said in a statement when the scandal began.
From that date, Nicolás Petro assured that he was innocent and that he had never received money from drug trafficking. On July 29, the case took a new turn with his arrest by the Attorney General’s Office.
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