The family of a drug trafficker infiltrated the campaign of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro ahead of last year’s elections, according to his political party Colombia Humana.
Television network Caracol reported on Sunday that associates of jailed drug trafficker Juan Carlos Lopez, a.k.a. “Sobrino,” organized campaign events ahead of the presidential election in Yopal, the capital of the Casanare province.
Sobrino’s wife, Sandra Navarro, became a member of the political party and was a close friend of Fabio Vargas, one of the party’s spokespersons in Yopal.
Wiretap transcripts leaked to Caracol revealed that Sobrino’s alleged associates believed that their organized crime group would benefit from Petro’s victory in the elections.
The news report infuriated the president, who said on Twitter that Colombia Humana had made the infiltration public in February already.
Colombia Humana suspended the election of Yopal party executives after local activists had complained that their regional branch was “permeated by clans of the [fascist] Democratic Center and the [conservative] Radical Change” parties, corrupt officials, drug traffickers and other mafia associates, according to a resolution published on the party’s website.
Sobrino was arrested in June of last year and Vargas apparently left the party after he was scolded for his ties to the drug trafficker in April.
Local news reports from 2021 suggest that Vargas led a dissident faction of Colombia Humana in Yopal.
Petro stressed that neither he not his party received contributions from Casanare ahead of the 2022 elections.
The report by Caracol further increased tensions between the government, Colombia’s corporate media and press freedom foundation FLIP.
The news corporations have made multiple corruption allegations based on information given to them by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa has become one of Petro’s most outspoken opponent of Petro ahead of local and regional elections that are set for October.