President Gustavo Petro, who has failed to get many of his reforms through a divided Congress, may now face another challenge as a result of Nicolás Petro’s detention.
Nicolas Petro: Money launderer son of the Colombian President Gustavo Petro was arrested (Photo: eNCA)
Nicolás Petro as money launderer
Gustavo Petro’s son was held in doubt of money laundering and illegal enrichment, according to early Saturday morning news from the attorney general’s office.
The attorney general’s office announced in March that it was investigating charges that the younger Mr. Petro, a lawmaker in the northern portion of the Atlántico department, had taken money from drug dealers in exchange for including them in his father’s peace negotiations. The president is working to put an end to the country’s internal conflict, which has lasted 60 years and cost about 450,000 lives. He has discussions going on with several unlicensed armed groups.
Daysuris Vásquez, Nicolás Petro’s ex-wife, was also detained and is accused of money laundering and violating privacy laws. According to a statement released by his office, they were taken into custody and the attorney general is requesting to have them held in detention on those allegations.
Money launderer arrested
President Petro has denied accepting funds from the nation’s powerful drug traffickers ever since the story surfaced. He himself requested an investigation into his son. In the northern Atlantic region, Nicolas Petro served as a lawmaker for the party of his father. His bank records, which showed that he had much more money than would be consistent with his salary from Congress, were published by news organizations.
The younger Petro rose to prominence in that department and other areas of Colombia’s Caribbean coast as his father’s campaign for the presidency. The Caribbean part of the country has generally been leery of leftist leaders, but in 2022, when Petro was elected as the nation’s first leftist president following decades of conservative control, they did support him.
