A Scandal in Colombia with an unlikely origin now threatens Petro's administration
An alleged abuse of power against a domestic worker grows into a wide-reaching investigation into campaign finances
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And this week is a great opportunity to do exactly that, as a mushrooming scandal that started out as a blip in the national media radar has grown into a full-blown political crisis in Colombia.
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A Scandal in Colombia with an unlikely origin now threatens Petro's administration
An alleged abuse of power against a domestic worker grows into a wide-reaching investigation of campaign finances
“You can’t do this to me, I will sink us all. We will all end up in jail,” said Armando Benedetti, who until last week was a top official in Petro’s government and the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela.
“If you fuck me, I’m going to fuck you all. I’m going to be the fucking airplane hitting the twin towers. I don’t care about the image. The towers are going to fall. I will burn you.”
The words, caught in a series of audios that appear to be voice messages to another former top Petro ally, Laura Sarabia, were leaked to a local Colombian magazine Sunday, causing a political firestorm. They may also prove to be prophetic, at least in a political sense.
In the same messages, Benedetti spoke of raising money outside of legal channels and vote-buying during the campaign, as well as a host of other profanity-laden claims.
A growing scandal that started with the alleged theft of a briefcase of cash from Sarabia in January, has now escalated into a governmental crisis and a series of investigations into the finances of President Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign —as well as illegal wiretaps by his allies— and derailed any chance he had of implementing his ambitious reform agenda, at least for the moment.
Colombia’s lower house has stopped debate on all pending legislation. Colombia’s election body has announced an investigation. And Benedetti as well as Sarabia, Petro’s top advisor who also resigned last week, have been called to give evidence.
To understand how Colombia reached this point, we need to go back and explain how this whole scandal started.
Wiretaps, bags of cash, and a nanny to the elites
Marelbys Meza is the former nanny of Sarabia’s son and was formerly employed by Benedetti. Last week she told Colombian media that she had been forcibly taken to a basement near the presidential palace, accused of stealing a briefcase from Sarabia’s apartment in January that contained $7000, and made to take a polygraph test.