Colombian President Gustavo Petro found himself directly implicated Monday, June 5, in the scandal of blackmail, illegal eavesdropping 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 ambassador of Colombia to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, one of the actors of the scandal who was removed from his post last week by Gustavo Petro, added this weekend a new episode to this scandal in the form of a telenovela drawers.

According to their transcript Sunday by the conservative weekly Semana, Armando Benedetti threatened the chief of staff of President Laura Sarabia - also removed from office - to reveal an alleged illegal financing of the electoral campaign of the candidate Petro to the tune of $ 3.5 million. "Laura (...) We will all fall. We are all finished. We all go to jail (...) With all the shit I know, we're all fucked, if you fuck me, I'll fuck you" (sic), says 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 left-wing president in the country's history in the summer of 2022. He claimed on Twitter that his audios "were manipulated" and apologized to Gustavo 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, on the front page 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, Armando Benedetti and Laura Sarabia. The CNE also asked the weekly Semana for all the audio recordings.

'No to blackmail'

"No member of the government cabinet, director or commander of the security forces, or director of the intelligence apparatus has ordered telephone interceptions, illegal searches, blackmail over public posts or contracts, or received money in the campaign from people linked to drug traffickers," defended Gustavo Petro on Twitter on Monday.

"I do not accept blackmail and I do not consider politics as a space of personal favors," he added, expressing his solidarity with Laura Sarabia under "enormous pressure". "I think I understand what is going on in the mind of Armando Benedetti, I accept his apology, but he must explain his words to the prosecutor and the country," Petro said.

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 and watch how we govern Colombia towards change," Francia Márquez said.

Armando Benedetti and Laura Sarabia, among President Petro's closest aides, are the protagonists of this scandal involving the theft of a large sum of dollars from Laura Sarabia's home. The latter, suspecting a domestic worker (advised by Armando Benedetti), had imposed a lie detector interrogation in an annex of the presidency. The prosecutor's office also suspects the former chief of staff of having ordered telephone tapping by posing as the accomplice of a drug trafficker.

Via her lawyer, Laura Sarabia assured Monday that she would respond "to all the demands of justice", but that she would "defend herself from all the scandalous and humiliating attacks" on the part of Armando Benedetti.

Following the release of the recordings of Armando Benedetti, 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 reforms are frozen until we can rebuild the government coalition (...) Such important discussions ... cannot be disrupted by external factors," said Lower House Speaker 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 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 liberals broke down.

With AFP

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