Petro announces hiring of specialized service to detect espionage with Pegasus

2024-09-10 03:31:43

President Gustavo Petro announced that he will try to implement a specialized service to detect traces of the Pegasus spyware on citizens’ phones.

This measure arises after complaints about the alleged use of this software, acquired during the government of Iván Duqueto intercept communications of political leaders, human rights defenders and journalists during the social outbreak of 2021.

In his speech on September 4, Petro claimed that Pegasus, an Israeli software, had been illegally used by the previous government to spy on the main opposition party and social leaders. The president also asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate these accusations and requested the National Police to locate the program in question.However, Carlos Ramón González, former Director of Intelligence, had already expressed in June 2024 that there was no certainty about the acquisition of said software.

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I will try to hire a specialized service that can detect traces of Pegasus infection on citizens’ phones.

Anyone who suspects illegal infection of their phone can consult this page or when we provide the government service. We will…

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 9, 2024

Petro also used his Twitter account to share a link where citizens can check if their phones have been infected by Pegasus.The President extended a special invitation to young people who were close to missing or deceased youth leaders during the 2021 social protests to use this service when the government makes it available to the public.

“I ask young people who were close to or called youth leaders who disappeared or died in detention to consult this page or use the government service to verify any indication of espionage,” Petro said in his post.

There is no evidence

For her part, the Attorney General, Luz Adriana Camargo, reported that so far the Prosecutor’s Office has not found evidence that the communications of magistrates of the high courts have been intercepted with the Pegasus software. Camargo also commented that he met with President Petro before the president made public the complaint about the alleged acquisition of the spy program during the Duque administration.

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