“Restless?, what’s up!Gustavo Petro returned to Twitter to signal calm. But Colombia is shaking under his shoes, not for tectonic reasons. The president had to go outside to respond to the voices he was in. dismissed ambassador VenezuelanArmando Benedetti, referring to the alleged irregular funding of the campaign that led him to the Palacio Nariño. From then on, inquiries and questionable regrets poured in.
“Our political rivals they rushed to report me at the prosecution office. However, no interview or audio recording showed that I committed a crime,” Petro defended himself. soft kick to stop the fight against impunity.” Last week is not the first time this type of conspiracy has been hinted at.
That country’s first left-wing government is going from storm to storm before it’s 10 months old. The first is the breaking of his alliance with the center. Then, take the controversial left. Last week “babysitter scandal“and the illegal wiretapping that ended Laura Sarabia’s presence in the Cabinet office and Benedetti’s departure from the embassy in Caracas. Sarabia was Benedetti’s private secretary. Together, they accompanied Petro in his rise to power. M-19 rewarded them with different political fates.” Sarabia, a 29-year-old political scientist, suffered from dizziness at Executive headquarters in Her on Monday. Last day on duty, the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the wiretaps of two of her employees following the robbery of at least $7,000 at her home.
However, the problems did not end with the expulsions. bogota magazine Week On Monday, he released several audio recordings in which Benedetti told Laura Sarabia that it would reveal the source of the alleged irregular financing of Petro’s candidacy on the Caribbean coast. “Or do they want me to say, motherfucker, Who put the money? Don’t make fun of my life”, a threatening wail can be heard: “Nowe’re sinking you all We’re all done, we’re going to jail, we’re done with the motherfuckers.”
reflections
The situation became unbearable for the president. “I do not accept blackmail Nor do I see politics as a field for self-interest,” he exploded after learning of the former ambassador’s bullying and the emergence of new problems. Election Observation Mission (MOE) He asked the prosecutor’s office and the National Election Board to carry out criminal and administrative investigations to identify those responsible.about the origin, quantity and destination of resources for the financing of campaigns”. In contrast, the right-wing ex-presidential candidate Federico Gutierrez He was defeated in the first round and filed a complaint about Petro with the House of Representatives Impeachment Committee, which is tasked with investigating complaints and disciplinary complaints against high-ranking state dignitaries.
Benedetti’s comings and goings
The President immediately acted in self-defense. “No one in the government cabinet, neither the directors or commanders of the public power, nor the directors of the intelligence services ordered wiretapping or illegal raids, nor accepted blackmail regarding public positions or contracts. no money was taken from people linked to drug trafficking in the campaignfar fewer figures were handled outside of our accounting”:
In response, Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva attacked the garrulous former ambassador to Venezuela with unusual expressions. “I find that very funny. How can one believe Benedetti in the midst of all this news movement? It’s incredible. He says ‘I am a drug addict’; Think about it, do you think it would be a good resource?”
And to spice up the political soap opera, Benedetti tried to retrace his steps. Your voices broadcast Week “They were tampered with.” I also apologize to Petro and Sarabia for the “aggression and malicious attack that is NOT from me”. The former ambassador admitted that he talks (and drinks) too much. “In an act of weakness and sadness, I allowed myself to be engulfed in anger and drink.“.
storms are coming
Recognition is delayed. The scandal had already sprung up. “Unannounced money into President Petro’s campaign?he asked in the newspaper editorial audience And added: “electoral crimes.Links to the pending lawsuit over the accusations against Nicolás Petro (the president’s son) and an open question now about how the president’s campaign led to a significant increase in votes on the Caribbean coast. Investigations that go beyond the noise are urgent.”
According to El Tiempo, “what began as the theft of a suitcase containing cash from the home of former chief of staff Laura Sarabia was a A very accommodating scandal to the core of the government with unexpected turns, with increasingly serious and unpredictable consequences. The way this crisis unfolds and is resolved will have a major impact on the political direction of the country in the days and weeks ahead.”