The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has denounced this Friday that there is a plan to “end” his mandate, after learning that the State Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the director of the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF) for the alleged purchase of the spy software ‘Pegasus’ from the Israeli Government.
“This is an attempt to put an end to the presidential figure in Colombia. Which Colombian president had been found in contempt? Which (…) had their constitutional competence in public services taken away? Which Colombian president had been unconstitutionally stripped of immunity? Which (…) are they trying to prevent their subordinates from delivering reports that endanger national security and the Human Rights of Colombians?” he said on his account on the social network X.
These words come in response to an anonymous complaint filed with the Prosecutor’s Office against the director of the UIAF – the body that works to prevent and detect possible money laundering operations, their source crimes and the financing of terrorism – Luis Eduardo Llinás Chica, for having delivered the report on the purchase of ‘Pegasus’ from Petro.
The document presented to the Prosecutor’s Office alleges that, at the beginning of September, when the president was speaking on television about the controversy generated around the director of the UIAF and the Israeli spyware, he revealed a document classified as “ultra-secret” and caused the suspension of Colombia from the EGMONT Group – the world forum that brings together the financial intelligence units of 152 countries.
“We must tell the truth, despite the fact that the popular vote was expressed, there is a part of society and the State that does not accept a progressive president, for them democracy is only empty words,” the president lamented.
Petro said in mid-September that “a powerful group” intended to overthrow him for the “reforms and public policies” implemented by his Government. “They are looking for legal tricks and manipulations to overthrow Petro,” he said just a few days after calling for popular mobilization against a “coup d’état” about which he has already spoken on numerous occasions.
