Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro is facing his first real crisis since taking office in August last year, as questions mount regarding the financing of his election campaign. Petro’s son, Nicolás, is at the centre of the accusations, having been accused by his ex-wife of receiving money from “murky” sources, including a convicted drug trafficker. Petro issued a statement on 2 March supporting an investigation into both his son and his brother, Juan Fernando, whose meetings with jailed politicians during the election campaign were never fully explained [WR-22-16].
Nicolás Petro, a deputy for the left-wing Pacto Histórico coalition in the departmental assembly of Atlántico, has been at the centre of a political storm since the news magazine Semana published an interview on 2 March with his ex-wife, Days Vázquez. Vázquez accused her former husband of “receiving money from people with a murky past”, claiming that Nicolás had received over Col$600m (US$124,600) from Santander Lopesierra (‘El Hombre Marlboro’), a convicted drug trafficker who spent 18 years in prison in the US, and Col$400m from Alfonso del Cristo Hilsaca (‘El Turco’), a business magnate who has previously been accused of holding links to paramilitary groups operating along the Caribbean coast.
Vásquez claimed that President Petro was unaware of his son’s alleged meetings with these men, and that Nicolás had kept Lopesierra’s donation for himself. She claimed that Nicolás’ connection to Lopesierra was through the drug trafficker’s daughter. Nicolás released a statement denying any relationship with either Lopesierra or Hilsaca, saying that “I haven’t met with, nor have I received any type of political, personal, or economic favour from any questionable people”. He said that the allegations were aimed at “destroying me as a person”.
However, the latest claims came after Colombia’s national electoral council (CNE) announced on 28 February that it had opened a preliminary investigation into the financing of the Petro campaign. The CNE said it had received a tip-off that some cash donations were not properly declared, and that the Pacto Histórico coalition represented by Petro “has not presented reports and supporting documents to this auditing body in a timely and clear way, failing to comply with the law”. According to local media, the CNE has expanded its investigation following Vásquez’s claims.
Petro moved quickly to get ahead of her allegations, releasing a statement saying that “due to the rumours in public opinion surrounding my brother Juan Fernando Petro Urrego and my eldest son Nicolás Petro Burgos, I ask the attorney general’s office to carry out all necessary investigations and determine possible responsibilities”. The reference to his brother reflected continued speculation regarding Juan Fernando’s visits during the election campaign to Bogotá’s La Picota prison, where he reportedly met former politicians jailed for corruption and for their ties to paramilitary groups. At the time, Petro claimed that his brother was sounding out the possibilities for a new policy of “social forgiveness”, although no further mention has been made of this policy since Petro took office.
The scandal looks unlikely to fade away, with Nicolás Petro’s alleged association with Lopesierra provoking condemnation even from staunch allies such as Senators Gustavo Bolívar and Iván Cepeda, both from Pacto Histórico. It could hardly have come at a worse time, as Petro attempts to bring already sceptical legislators on board with his controversial health reform [WR-23-07].
Clan del Golfo behind mining protests?
The governor of Antioquia department, Aníbal Gaviria, claimed on 7 March that the Clan del Golfo drug trafficking organisation (DTO) is responsible for highly disruptive protests by informal miners in the Bajo Cauca region. Since 1 March, informal miners have blocked roads and declared a curfew which has been enforced with the threat of violence. As a result, Gaviria claimed that 250,000 people have been confined to their homes. Among other things, the miners are demanding new legislation to formalise artisanal mining and for a halt to the authorities’ destruction of equipment used for illegal mining. Gaviria claimed that the protests, which recall the Clan del Golfo’s ‘armed strike’ in May 2022, are being orchestrated by the DTO in retaliation for a crackdown on its illegal mining operations.