Colombian President Gustavo Petro found himself directly implicated on Monday in the scandal of blackmail, illegal wiretapping and lie detector involving two of his relatives, the electoral commission having opened an investigation into the financing of his campaign.
Recordings of the former Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, one of the actors in the scandal who was dismissed from his post last week by Mr. Petro, added this weekend a new episode to this scandal in the form of a telenovela with drawers.
According to their transcript on Sunday by the conservative weekly Semana, Mr. Benedetti threatened the president’s chief of staff Laura Sarabia – who was also dismissed from her post – to reveal alleged illegal financing of the electoral campaign of the candidate Petro to the tune of $3.5 million.
“Laura (…) We are all going to fall. We are all finished. We are all going to prison (…) With all the shit I know, we are all fucked, if you fuck me, I fuck you”( sic), declares the former diplomat in these recordings full of insults where we do not hear his interlocutor.
An old backpacker in Colombian politics, Armando Benedetti played a key role in the victory of the first leftist president in the country’s history in the summer of 2022. He claimed on Twitter that his audios “were manipulated” and s apologized to Mr. Petro, but did not deny their authenticity.
“It is clear that there is a campaign to discredit me (…) with the aim of disqualifying what I might say in the future,” he added.
Following these revelations, in one of all the national media, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced the opening of a preliminary investigation, and summoned for June 13 the two protagonists of the case, Mr. Benedetti and Mrs. Sarabia.
The CNE also asked the weekly Semana for the full audio recordings.
“No member of the government cabinet, nor director or commander of the security forces, nor director of the intelligence apparatus has ordered telephone interceptions, or unlawful searches, or accepted blackmail about public positions or contracts, or received money in the campaign from people linked to drug traffickers”, Mr. Petro defended himself on Twitter on Monday.
“I do not accept blackmail nor do I see politics as a space for personal favours,” he added, expressing solidarity with Ms Sarabia under “enormous pressure”.
“I think I understand what is going on in the mind of Armando Benedetti, I accept his apologies, but he must explain his words to the prosecution and to the country”, continued Mr. Petro.
His vice-president Francia Marquez and several members of his cabinet have stepped up to defend him. “We could expect that the right would not sit idly by watching how we govern Colombia towards change,” commented Ms. Marquez.
Mr. Benedetti and Mrs. Sarabia, among President Petro’s closest associates, are the protagonists of this scandal, which originated in the theft of a large sum of dollars from Mrs. Sarabia’s home.
The latter, suspecting a domestic worker (advised by Mr. Benedetti), had imposed a lie detector interrogation on her in an annex of the presidency. The prosecution also suspects the former chief of staff of having ordered wiretapping by passing the housekeeper for the accomplice of a drug trafficker.
Via her lawyer, Ms. Sarabia assured Monday that she would respond “to all the demands of justice”, but that she would “defend herself from all outrageous and humiliating attacks” on the part of Mr. Benedetti.
Following the release of Mr. Benedetti’s recordings, the House of Representatives announced on Monday the suspension of discussions on the reforms that the government has been trying for months to pass.
“Discussions on the reforms are frozen until we can rebuild the government coalition (…) Such important discussions (…) cannot be disrupted by external factors”, declared the speaker of the Chamber bass, David Racero, a supporter of President Petro.
Eleven months after his election as head of the country, Gustavo Petro is encountering many difficulties in getting his reforms adopted in Parliament, or even in his ambitious plan for “total peace” with the armed groups promised to the country.
He reshuffled his government at the end of April, while his coalition in Parliament with the centrists and the liberals broke up.
06/06/2023 00:06:05 – Bogotá (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
