The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Colombia decided to open an investigation to investigate the alleged involvement of the president Gustavo Petro in a case of irregular financing in electoral campaigns.
In a decision announced last Tuesday 8, the Colombian electoral body accused Petro of omitting payment installments of around 925 thousand dollars in the 2022 campaign.
The CNE pointed out that irregular financing benefited the Historic Pact coalition, which was represented by Petro and his campaign manager, Ricardo Roa Barragán. The case would also have benefited auditors Juan Carlos Lemus Gómzes and María Lucy Soto Caro, as well as treasurer Aydee Mogollón Alfonso.
The agent reacted to the complaint. “The coup d’état has begun”wrote Petro on the X network, shortly after the announcement of the accusation. “The president will go as far as the people say. They think they have the right to mock the popular vote and here there are no people kneeling”, said Petro, calling on his base to demonstrate in the streets.
The case
The CNE accused Petro’s campaign of hiding specific data from the 2022 electoral propaganda. Furthermore, according to the organization, the campaign did not reveal that it received resources from two Colombian unions: that of the country’s teachers, known as Fecode, and the union of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s main energy company.
Undeclared resources would have catapulted, for example, Petro’s electoral performance in the Colombian Caribbean region. There, traditionally, votes tend to go with right-wing candidates, but Petro emerged victorious in the region in 2022.
The investigation suggests that spending on supporters on the Colombian Caribbean coast was not revealed.
In recent times, the thesis of irregular use of resources in these events has been gaining strength. In July last year, the president’s son, Nicolás Petro, even admitted in court that received money from a drug trafficking boss in the campaign.
Investigated for alleged money laundering, the agent’s son acknowledged that the money was given by a drug trafficker known as the “Marlboro man” (in reference to the brand of cigarettes). Despite this, according to him, Petro had no knowledge of financial transactions.
The case gained strength in the middle of last year, when a call between two of Petro’s allies – Armando Benedetti and Laura Saraiba – was leaked. In the conversation, both threatened to “tell the truth” about the alleged maneuvers with resources in the Caribbean region.
The CNE, by itself, cannot revoke Petro’s presidential mandate. However, under Colombian law, the investigation can be sent to the country’s Chamber of Representatives, making the president subject to a political trial.
