LatinNews Daily - 19 December 2025

*The superior court of Bogotá has sentenced Colombia’s former finance minister Ricardo Bonilla (2023-2024) and interior minister Luis Fernando Velasco (2023-2024) to pre-trial detention in relation to an alleged vote-buying scheme in congress. Bonilla and Velasco were charged on 1 December with bribery, criminal conspiracy, and interference in the awarding of contracts. They are accused of using funds skimmed from the government’s disaster risk management unit (UNGRD) and national roads institute (Invías) to pay for public works in the districts of legislators who supported legislation submitted by President Gustavo Petro’s government. Judge Aura Alexandra Rosero Baquero ruled that Bonilla and Velasco did not meet the requirements for house arrest and must serve their pre-trial detention in prison.

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