SNAPSHOTS

A Campaign Finance Scandal Threatens Colombia's President

Aug 7, 2023 | 19:40 GMT

Colombian President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech in Congress in Bogota, Colombia, on July 20, 2023.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech in Congress on July 20, 2023.

(JUAN PABLO PINO/AFP via Getty Images)

In Colombia, a campaign finance scandal could result in President Gustavo Petro's resignation or, if he manages to stay in power, could make it harder for his government to pass his reform agenda and garner support for his administration's peace talks with guerrilla groups. As Petro marked his first year in office on Aug. 7, a growing scandal involving his son is threatening to disrupt the remainder of his term. On July 29, Nicolas Petro was arrested as part of an investigation into a scheme in which he allegedly accepted illicit financing from guerrilla groups in exchange for promising to include those groups in his father's peace negotiation efforts. According to Colombian prosecutor Mario Andres Burgos, the president's son ''received large sums of money [that] exceeded legal limits'' from three criminal actors: Samuel Santander Lopesierra (who was extradited to the United States for drug trafficking charges in 2002), Gabriel Hilsaca...

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