Anonymous US Government officials told Colombia’s ambassador that Washington DC was responsible for the clandestine purchase of Israeli spyware Pegasus in collusion with Colombian police intelligence.
Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Peña told press that the US officials told him that they gave Colombian police intelligence agency DIPOL $11 million dollars to purchase Pegasus in 2020.
The officials allegedly told the ambassador that they stopped using the spyware before President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022 in response to media reports from 2021 that highlighted how governments used Pegasus to spy on critics and opposition leaders.
The illegal use of the Israeli software in Mexico, eastern Europe and western Asia was made public in 2019 already, well before June 2021 when executives of Israeli intelligence contractor NSO Group traveled to Bogota to receive money for Pegasus.
According to Garcia-Peña, the Americans told him that “the software was never given to Colombian authorities, but that it was the Colombian authorities who told [American intelligence officials] who they considered targets for these interceptions.”
“There was oversight by US authorities to supposedly ensure that it was only directed against these drug kingpins,” added the ambassador.
The Americans also told Garcia-Peña that former President Ivan Duque was never informed about the alleged joint intelligence operation.
In a response, Petro said that police officials who work with foreign governments without the consent of their superiors could be guilty of treason.
Any predetermined affectation of a citizen against national sovereignty is a crime and is called: “Treason against the Fatherland.”
President Gustavo Petro
The ambassador said that he would have additional meetings in DC in order to receive additional information on the Americans’ precise involvement in the clandestine operation.
As suggested by the president, this information and ongoing investigations by the Prosecutor General’s Office could become a problem for Duque’s police executives who possibly committed crimes while working with the Americans.