2023-06-06 06:42:54
“I was the one who organized all the votes (…), 15,000 million pesos, what’s more, if it’s not for me, they don’t win” These are some of the terrible phrases from a conversation held by the recently resigned – or dismissed, the thing is not entirely clear – Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetticon Laura Sarabiaalso recently removed from her post as chief of staff to the president Gustavo Petro.
The revista Semana uncovered the scandal a few days ago and this same Monday exclusively offered the audios of the angry conversation in which Benedetti reproached Sarabia for the treatment received after he had spent several hours waiting to be received by Petro without success.
The fact provoked the indignation of the already ex-ambassador and a very risqué conversation with the chief of staff, who, to make matters worse, had been his subordinate in the past. During the heated discussion, Benedetti reminded Sarabia of his contribution to the campaign: “I held a hundred meetings,” she assured, boasting that he had achieved “15,000 million pesos (just over 3.2 million euros at the current exchange rate) is more, if it is not for me, they do not win”assured the former ambassador.
“It is not a threat”
Immediately afterwards, he went on to threaten Petro’s chief of staff, despite warning that he was not doing precisely that: “What I am going to tell you is not a threat (…), I see that this can impute me, I kick motherfucker, and there we all fall son of a bitch“, after which he returned to insist on the importance of his contribution to the victory of Petro:” I was the one who I organized all the votes, son of a bitch, on the Coast, all of them, son of a bitch, without them putting a penny and also that money went to the Pacific. Who sees that now? Nothing. Or do you want me to say, son of a bitch, who was the one who put up the money? Don’t screw my life, don’t screw my life,” he shouted excitedly, remembering that what had happened to him was “shit Laura, from you and from the president.”
Benedetti used the word “threat” again, but now he didn’t even bother to deny it: “I claim my political space at any time and don’t do it so they can see, and If they think it’s a threat, it’s a threat And if you want to record it, record it.”
And later he made it even more explicit: “With so much shit that I know, well, we all get screwed, Yeah you fuck me, I fuck you, but the Twin Towers fall. (…) Osama Bin Laden, when he knocked down the Twin Towers, did not give a damn about the image and if they were going to kill him or not, but he knocked down the Twin Towers “.
Apparently the friction stems from a more political grievance and not only from Benedetti’s visit to Petro: the former ambassador wanted to return from Venezuela and hoped to find an accommodation in the Government after the latest moves, which ultimately has not happened.
Beyond the accusations that have now been revealed and that leave the president of Colombia in a very delicate situation, it is true that Benedetti was an essential man in the presidential elections, since he kept the then candidate Petro on the agenda and managed his appointments with the media, as Semana recalls.
The Government tries to discredit Benedetti
In a message on Twitter, Petro has denied the facts and has said that “neither have blackmail been accepted for public office or contracts, nor have money been received in the campaign from people linked to drug trafficking, much less have figures such as 15,000 million pesos been handled outside of our accounting.” “I do not accept blackmail, nor do I see politics as a space for personal favors,” added the president.
An intelligence agency in the Duque government illegally recorded all the conversations made on Zoom during all the months of my campaign and they were published in Semana. They could never publish even a minute where I said something illegal or irregular.
The…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 5, 2023
In addition, given the seriousness of the crisis generated, the Colombian government is trying to discredit the until less than a week ago he was their ambassador Speaking of an alleged addiction to drugs, Thus, in a statement collected by Efe, Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva assured that it seemed “very funny, in the midst of all this news movement, how can Benedetti believe him. He himself says ‘ I am a drug addict,” he said.
Complaint of the opposition
Meanwhile, the former Colombian presidential candidate Federico “Fico” Gutierrezwho came in third position in the first round of elections, on Monday called for Petro’s resignation after uncovering this scandal.
“Today what we already know with the latest statements is thatand we are also facing an illegal government“Gutiérrez said in the House of Representatives, where he went to denounce the president before the Commission on Accusations for crimes related to illegal campaign financing.
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