"The atmosphere in Congress is tense," admits Senator María José Pizarro, from the Pacto Histórico, president of the Legal Commission for Women's Equality, which has been appointed by President Gustavo Petro to investigate complaints about harassment and violence. sex in the Congress of the Republic.
"But since we're not in sessions, I can't talk about what the daily environment would be like if we were in sessions," explains Pizarro, a declared feminist.
“As many complaints have not reached the courts, and in these cases great powers are handled, I am very concerned about the pressure that these women may be feeling,” she points out.
President Petro ordered an investigation of the cases in the legislature after EL PAÍS published a complaint against former senator Mauricio Lizcano, now secretary of the Presidency.
According to the anonymous account of one woman, Lizcano tried to forcefully kiss her during a job interview, an allegation he denies.
This is the most recent of the accusations of harassment and abuse by congressmen -and the only one with its own name- that have multiplied in the media since the first week of January, when former senator Gustavo Bolívar recounted that four women approached tell you their stories that show the sexual exploitation networks in the Capitol.
Some journalists have confirmed that they heard similar complaints.
They are anonymous accusations.
Piedad Córdoba, senator of the Historical Pact, insists in dialogue with this newspaper that Gustavo Bolívar must give the names of the alleged harassers.
“I believe that the correct thing is not simply to announce an investigation, but to know who the people are, with their own names,” she says.
And she adds: "What one hears is that there are three high-level officials of this government linked, one in an embassy and another two in presidential positions, who were also congressmen."
Faced with the complaint about the alleged abuse of Lizcano, Cordoba asks the president of the republic to take action.
“The least you should do is remove him from office,” he says.
For now, he hasn't.
Several congresswomen consider that, paradoxically, these complaints come at an ideal time: Congress has been renewed with a greater number of women aligned with feminism and willing to go to the last consequences to denounce sexual harassment and violence.
"What we are going to do is, in some way, repair the image of Congress in the Republic," Pizarro told this newspaper.
Julia Miranda, representative of the New Liberalism, sees a similar opportunity.
"This Congress, and especially the House of Representatives, is a renewed Congress, made up of many young, empowered people, women who speak clearly and hard," she told EL PAÍS.
“What one perceives is a total and forceful rejection of harassment, of any type of harassment.
I think that an interesting surveillance environment is being created so that this does not happen anymore in the Congress of the Republic, ”she adds.
One concern among them, however, is whether they will have the unconditional support of the men in this difficult task.
Especially from those who are in the center of power, such as President Petro, and various leaders of the left.
Recently, an iconic former representative of the left-wing Polo Democrático party, Germán Navas Talero, was criticized when he went out to attack a young congresswoman from another left-wing party, Jennifer Pedraza, who denounced the sexual harassment of a left-wing academic who was going to be ambassador.
"What a shame that this piñata seller from a town bazaar is a representative to the Chamber," Talero told Pedraza on Twitter.
Petro was also criticized when he retweeted a message from a woman defending Lizcano.
“I hope that more male congressmen show solidarity with the women, because I have not yet seen them talking about the issue, and I think it is important that they speak out and reject these events,” says Carolina Arbeláez, representative of the Cambio Radical party, a critic of this government.
She, like Pizarro and a dozen other women congressmen consulted and from different political wings, says she is committed to working against sexual harassment.
Like Córdoba, she believes that the first to speak should be Bolívar.
"I think that former Senator Bolívar should go to the Prosecutor's Office to tell the facts that he knows, even with reservation, because it is an enormous responsibility that he has, and by law not to remain silent," she adds.
One of the few men who have spoken about the issue is the left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, one of Petro's main bishops in the Historical Pact.
He says that Bolívar's denunciations have not surprised him, since in his opinion these episodes are not unrelated to corruption, abuse of power and "absolutely immoral forms" of politics in Colombia.
Although he has not been able to keep up with the reactions, because he finds himself at the negotiating table with the ELN, he perceives in Congress a situation of "nervousness, in some cases even denial, of trying to hide this situation, and that is not It could be the attitude.
This matter must be addressed in all its harshness and not only denounce it, but go on to "fully clarify it", he affirms,
But it remains very difficult for women to feel comfortable speaking up, especially in Congress, where they would be facing off against some of the most powerful men in the country.
"The issue of getting women to denounce this by showing their faces is very complicated, there is a first barrier," says representative Catherine Juvinao, who came to Congress last year through the Green Alliance and is an ally of the government, although with criticism on some issues.
“The red line between filing a complaint to help the victims and starting to engage in politics on this issue is very thin,” she warns.
Recently, in response to the first complaints, the Legislature approved a new internal protocol so that women can have a new safe route if they want to make complaints—anonymously, if they wish—and receive psychological and legal support.
But many women's organizations believe that it is not strong enough to protect them, since Congress cannot investigate congressmen but only refer complainants to the Supreme Court, the only institution that can investigate congressmen.
For Juvinao, the protocol is "deficient", since it needs to create a more comprehensive accompaniment for women.
“They feel that all employment doors are going to be closed to them, because they feel that if the harasser is a congressman, he is going to be in charge of damaging their lives and that they will never be hired again,” she says.
Still, tension hangs in the air at the center of political power.
Although the congressmen do not maintain such close contact with each other these days, because the legislative sessions have not yet started, "this does have more than one congressman scared," Juvinao points out.
“Yes, there is more than one congressman who knows that he has incurred in one or several episodes of harassment, that there are one or several women who could come out to speak, and they are tense about it,” he says.
"I am glad that the issue is on the agenda, that has an immediate effect of preventing congressmen who may be in these adventures right now from continuing or persisting in them," he values.
When the extraordinary sessions begin, on February 6, legislators will be able to find out if there are women willing to go out with their full names: theirs and their stalker's.
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