After a week of scandals in the presidential family, President Gustavo Petro’s brother, Juan Fernando Petro, came out to defend himself against the accusations against him and the investigation in the Prosecutor’s Office that was requested by the head of state himself.
As President Petro said through an official statement, sources close to him informed him of alleged payments within the country’s prisons in exchange for benefits, all in the name of total peace.
“My Government will not give benefits to criminals in exchange for bribes. On the contrary, we are in the construction of legal mechanisms so that these groups outside the law take refuge in justice, make reparation to the victims and stop the violence in the cities and other territories. The protection of life is a priority,” said the president after insisting that the only government spokesman authorized for these issues is the high commissioner for peace, Danilo Rueda.
In the same communiqué, the head of state He asked that his brother Juan Fernando and his eldest son, Nicolás Petro, be investigated. Both allegedly related to acts of corruption.
According to multiple investigations by the press, the brother of the head of state – or people posing as him – He would be asking for millions of dollars in exchange for not extraditing drug traffickers or transferring them to the prison of his choice.
In response, Juan Fernando Petro published a harsh statement on Monday in which he told his brother to “put his own to suffer this public ridicule (…) to make us the target of insulting attacks until the truth finally emerges.” .
Despite this, Juan Fernando says that he supports the president’s position because “above all is the Nation, for which I fully share the content and the sound purpose of the statement, which is none other than the absolute tranquility that assists him about that his brother can be subjected to all kinds of moral and patrimonial searches,” he said.
Regarding his alleged responsibility in the well-known “pocket pact” and other accusations, Juan Fernando assured that he is innocent and that he has dedicated himself to working for peace in remote communities.
In fact, I take advantage of the statement to recognize that the only one empowered to make these approaches is Rueda.
“I must clarify that I am not an upstart on the subject of peace, since, as a former member of the Inter-Church Commission for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation and the Latin American Commission on Human Rights, non-governmental organizations, with different epicenters of action, and without communicating ties with the Peace Commission of the current government, headed by Danilo Rueda, I have carried out a silent work throughout the remote territories, in the midst of the communities, which has never implied offering benefits to those convicted of exchange of gifts”, concluded Juan Fernando.
This is one more of the hot potatoes that falls to the Petro government, since another scandal related to Nicolás Petro has plagued the presidential family since last week.
In addition to those alleged illegal charges to drug traffickers that the president’s brother would be making, alleged payments from questioned characters to Nicolás were also known.
As revealed by the ex-wife of the president’s son, Day Vásquez, Nicolás Petro would have received at least 600 million pesos from ex-drug trafficker Santander Lopesierra and 400 million pesos more from Turco Hisalca, a man investigated for homicide and for alliances with paramilitaries.
For all these facts, both Juan Fernando and Nicolás Petro are being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office and other control entities.