This Tuesday, US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel addressed concerns about possible financial irregularities in Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s 2022 election campaign.
Patel was in the middle of the briefing when Noticias Caracol journalist Juan Camilo Merlano questioned him about a recently published report that mentioned ongoing investigations into alleged irregular payments that financed Petro’s presidential campaign.
Merlano specifically sought to know why this information was included in a report related to corruption, given that a verdict has not yet been issued in Colombia and the process is ongoing. In response, Patel explained that this information is compiled from a database provided by embassies and consulates.
This exchange led the journalist to ask if the State Department had concrete information about possible irregular money inflows into Petro’s campaign. Patel responded: “What I can say about the entries in the human rights report is that we found them to be ‘credible.’”
🚨@StateDept asegura que la información relacionada con la entrada de “dineros irregulares” a la campaña Petro y que reseñó en su reporte sobre DDHH es “creíble”. Vean pregunta y respuesta: pic.twitter.com/SW9acGa9GR
— Juan Camilo Merlano (@JuanCMerlano) April 23, 2024
It is important to remember that it was Nicolás Petro Burgos, eldest son of the Colombian president, who stated in an interrogation that his father’s campaign was financed with money from drug trafficking and that Petro was also aware of it.
“I mentioned it to him several times; he knew it,” he said during interrogation about the case against him for money laundering.
Although he later alleged that the prosecutor’s office “pressured” him to testify against his father, these new statements by the American spokesman suggest that Petro may have received irregular money for his campaign.
The US report on Colombia
The report recently published by the United States Department of State addresses not only the issue of Petro’s presidential campaign but also the human rights situation in Colombia, highlighting concerns about violations and abuses perpetrated against the population.
The document indicates cases of arbitrary executions, including extrajudicial executions, as well as acts of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, both by government security forces and armed groups.
In addition, the report highlights multiple ongoing investigations into members of Congress and other senior government officials for alleged corruption.
