Nicolás Petro, a photograph shared on his social networks on June 24, 2022.nicolaspetroB (RR SS)
Gustavo Petro has taken the opposite position to that of the philosopher Albert Camus, who said that between justice and his mother, he preferred his mother.
The president has chosen justice, for now.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation officially investigates from this Friday the son and brother of Petro for having used their last names to collect commissions from businessmen and prisoners who were promised presidential favors, after the president himself requested on Thursday the opening of an investigation to his relatives.
A group of prosecutors, investigators and experts headed by the deputy attorney general, Martha Mancera, has traveled to Barranquilla to interview Day Vásquez, the ex-wife of Nicolás Petro, the president's eldest son.
The woman, in an interview with Semana magazine, accused Nicolás of receiving money from businessmen whom she led to believe were contributing to his father's presidential campaign last year.
She also assures that he was related to people from the world of smuggling and drug trafficking, and that he drove a truck that belonged to a government contractor.
The prosecutor's office is considering protecting Vásquez.
At the same time, the prosecutor's office has reported that Juan Fernando Petro, the president's brother, has been under investigation since January 23.
Investigators are tracking possible payments from drug traffickers who would have been promised slots in total peace, Petro's project to negotiate and bring criminals to justice.
It is believed that a mafia of lawyers went around the prisons charging the prisoners money with the promise that they would be included in the lists for reduced sentences.
Juan Fernando was already pointed out during the campaign for being behind that framework, but he denied everything.
The Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda, has confirmed that a prisoner paid 120 million to a lawyer to be transferred to another prison, under one of these promises.
That is, the case exists.
Petro, after a first government crisis produced by the dismissal of three ministers, —among them a very popular one, Alejandro Gaviria—, now faces the suspicion that two of his closest relatives have done business using his name.
The president has been very clear, and has put his name and position first, above any family ties: "My commitment to Colombia and the Colombians is to achieve peace and whoever wants to interfere in that purpose, or take personal advantage of This has no place in the government, even if they are members of my family.”
He said that he hoped they could prove his innocence, but that in any case he would respect the work of the prosecution.
Nicolás and Juan Fernando Petro have been left at the mercy of the authorities, without presidential support.
If what they are accused of is true, they made use of the name of an institution that has now abandoned them.
Nicolás has said that he is innocent, that he does not know any of the characters with whom he is linked and that he will act legally against those who want to tarnish his name.
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