Nicolas Petro, son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in 2019.Nicolaspetroburgos (RR SS)
Nicolás Petro did not have a fluid relationship with his father until shortly before the electoral campaign.
The possibility of a change in Colombia was the glue that united them.
From that moment it was common to see him on stage during rallies, in the background.
His son watched his father with real admiration.
He was impressed by his easy talk, his ability to electrify crowds.
That is why he had entered politics years ago and that is why he used the same discourse in favor of the poorest.
Nicolás, the best known of Gustavo Petro's sons, the only one dedicated to the same job as him, was called to be, or at least that's how some see it, a politician who proudly carried the last name.
In the last week, however, he has become the awkward son.
On Nicolás, a law graduate and representative of the Atlantic, weighs the accusation of having taken advantage of his father's name to enrich himself and lead a life of luxury.
The revelation has shocked the country, which has suddenly set its eyes on this dark-haired, strong-featured, handsome boy, always wearing a cap and dressed in baggy clothes, in the style of a rapper.
His own father has asked the Prosecutor's Office to investigate him thoroughly, and the institution has already gotten down to work.
His golden destiny began to twist on February 1, the day that Day Vásquez, the woman from whom he had just separated, visited the Palacio de Nariño, the presidential residence.
There she said that Nicolás had received large amounts of money from businessmen who believed they were contributing to his father's campaign.
In reality, the boy kept the money, according to her version.
Some of these contributions were made by dubious characters related to drug trafficking and smuggling.
In the following days, according to Alfonso Prada, the Interior Minister and government spokesman, Petro told a council of ministers that he had received information with great pain and sadness, and asked all of them not to have any contact with his family.
"No one can exercise influence peddling," emphasized the president.
The thorny issue haunted the Palace until it ended up in the press.
Semana
magazine
published a devastating interview with Day.
The young woman told everything and as proof she provided her chats with Nicolás.
There you can see the way in which Petro's son amassed a fortune that he allocated to a luxurious house in Barranquilla.
He had so much cash that to move it from one city to another he needed the help of family and friends.
When Katia Burgos, his mother, visited his new house, the boy lied to her and told her that it belonged to a friend.
“Your friend must be a traqueto (drug dealer),” she said.
Katia Burgos was the love of Petro's youth.
Together they served in the M-19, an urban guerrilla group that was immensely popular in the 1980s.
From that relationship, Nicolás was born 36 years ago.
When Burgos gave birth, Gustavo was in prison, where he was tortured by a guerrilla.
His mother took the baby to jail.
However, the three did not start a family.
Petro continued with his political activism and had another relationship, from which two children were born, the most discreet of the entire family.
Petro later had a third marriage, this time with Verónica Alcocer, with whom he had two other daughters.
Alcocer, the first lady, brought to the family nucleus another previous son, who by chance is also called Nicolás.
He was the first to ignore his stepbrother.
“I want to make it clear to people who don't know me and to public opinion that in the statement made today by my father, he does not refer to me, but to my brother Nicolás Petro.
I appreciate the prudence before sending messages or tagging me in publications that affect my good name, ”he wrote on his social networks.
Andrea Petro, her older sister, was even more forceful: “The family is not above everything, the nation comes first and respect for the Colombian people.
The president shows his honesty and transparency.
Everything is in the hands of justice, he will respect himself and abide by his decision ”.
Nicolás leads a life at full speed.
He lives in a luxury apartment in the most sought after neighborhood of Barranquilla, together with the most powerful families in the city.
A month's worth of bank statements show he spent nearly $8,000 on restaurants, designer clothes, jewelry, cosmetic treatments and five-star hotels.
His salary as a deputy does not reach 3,000.
In social networks they have reminded him these days that he loved to refer to himself as people "of the people".
This has not been the first time that he has strayed from the path.
In January, she appeared in an Instagram photo with the son of a parapolitician, Musa Besaile.
Petro, as a senator, risked his life denouncing the links between politics and paramilitarism, the private armies that were created to fight the guerrillas and that ended up committing more crimes than the guerrillas themselves.
Andrea, in an interview with
Cambio
, has said that the president is very disappointed with Nicolás for that image.
“It makes me angry because we are not like that.
I think the power has gone to his head”, the daughter declared.
Arrows rain down on Nicolás everywhere.
In the revealed chats, he insults Gustavo Bolívar, a well-known narconovela writer who supported Petro in the campaign and was the head of his Senate list.
Bolívar reacted by saying that Nicolás thought he was an obstacle in the campaign for not compromising with "hidden sectors of politics."
Another mess, another skein to pull.
Nicolás, according to people who have treated him these days, feels abandoned and betrayed by family and friends.
Locked in his luxurious apartment with hanging stairs, he has been left more alone than ever.
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