Petro demands to investigate cases of sexual harassment in the Colombian Congress

Colombian President Gustavo Petro met with his closest friends at the Casa de Nariño this Thursday afternoon to address the complaints that have been made about sexual harassment and violence in the Colombian Congress.

In a statement from the Presidency, Petro announces that he has "requested an internal investigation into the events that occurred in the Congress of the Republic, both in the current legislature and in previous ones."

This investigation will be in charge of Senator María José Pizarro, who will be able to create a special accidental commission for the investigation.

The presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives, Roy Barreras and David Rasero, must give him all possible support for the internal investigation.

"The results of the investigation will be made available to public opinion, the media and the competent authorities, if necessary," says the presidential statement.

"It will reach its final consequences, preserving the right to honor and the presumption of innocence, but investigating all the complaints that are received," he adds.

The statement does not directly mention one of his closest allies, the former senator and current secretary of the presidency, Mauricio Lizcano.

This Wednesday he was accused by a woman, in El PAÍS, of sexual harassment.

According to her account, when she was looking for a job at the capitol, he tried to forcefully kiss her during a job interview.

When she refused, he told her, "If she wants the job, this is the way."

Lizcano has responded to this newspaper that the information is false and invites this woman to make a formal complaint so that there is a pertinent investigation.

Lizcano has been the only ex-congressman named by his own name, but complaints of sexual harassment have been growing since January.

They began when former senator Gustavo Bolívar said that there was a network of sexual exploitation in Congress—according to four women who went to tell him his testimony, according to Bolívar told Semana magazine.

“In order to enslave them sexually, they made them contracts for two or three months,” he said.

The contract was only renewed if they agreed to the sexual acts.

After that there have been other anonymous cases slowly revealed by Semana magazine, columnist Ana Bejarano, and former congressional journalist Maritza Aristizábal—but still none with their own names.

The Presidency also announces that it will promote a protocol in the government to defend "the rights of women and against any case of harassment, abuse or violence against them."

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