Senator-elect Piedad Cordoba (L) (Image: Twitter)
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Colombia’s opposition embarrassed after Honduras finds $68K on senator-elect

Campaign of Gustavo Petro has yet to respond to Piedad Cordoba's cash 'consultancy fee'

by Adriaan Alsema

Colombia’s opposition went quiet on Wednesday after one of its senators-elect was held in Honduras with $68,000 in cash.

Honduras’ migration authority initially that Senator-elect Piedad Cordoba failed to report the money she allegedly received from an unidentified Colombian resident in Honduras.

Cordoba told radio station Blu that she did report the money and missed her flight because a customs official took three hours to count the bills.

According to the Senator-elect, the money was a consultancy fee.

The national government of Honduras announced an investigation into the origin of the money and stressed that it presumed Cordoba did nothing wrong until proven otherwise.

Blow for opposition candidate in elections

The incident is a tremendous blow for opposition Senator Gustavo Petro, the front runner in Sunday’s presidential elections.

Cordoba is a member of Petro’s “Historic Pact” coalition and was re-elected to the Senate in the March 13 Congressional elections.

The presidential candidate asked the senator-elect to step away from his presidential campaign amid a Supreme Court investigation into Cordoba’s fortune.

Petro has been fiercely campaigning against corruption, which makes Cordoba’s latest scandal particularly hurtful for the opposition leader’s presidential aspirations.

Cordoba’s questionable connections

The former Liberal Party politician reportedly used to be sponsored by businessman Alex Saab, who is tried in the US on claims he conspired to launder money for Venezuela’s disputed government.

Cordoba has been a supporter of authoritarian Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his late predecessor Hugo Chavez.

The government of the United States requested the extradition of the Senator-elect’s brother in March on claims that he received money from a Drug Enforcement Administration official posing as a drug trafficker.

Cordoba was the victim of a years-long smear campaign when far-right former President Alvaro Uribe was president between 2002 and 2010.