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The son of Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, was arrested on costs of cash laundering and illicit enrichment, the legal professional basic’s workplace announced early Saturday morning.
Nicolás Petro was arrested alongside together with his ex-wife, Daysuris Vásquez, who was additionally charged with cash laundering, in addition to private knowledge violations. They have been taken into custody and the legal professional basic is in search of to have them held in detention on these costs, based on the assertion by his workplace.
The legal professional basic’s workplace introduced in March that it was investigating the youthful Mr. Petro, a politician within the northern division of Atlántico, for allegedly receiving cash from drug traffickers in trade for together with them in his father’s peace negotiations. The president has been negotiating with numerous unlawful armed teams as he seeks to finish the nation’s 60-year inner battle, which has killed round 450,000 folks.
The youthful Mr. Petro denied any wrongdoing when the legal professional basic first introduced the investigation, calling accusations towards him “harmful and unsubstantiated.” Each the president and his son stated on the time that they welcomed the investigation “to make clear and defend my honor and good title.”
In January the legal professional basic’s workplace additionally opened an investigation into the president’s brother, Juan Fernando Petro, over comparable allegations.
President Petro wrote on Saturday morning on Twitter that he was “harm” by the prospect of his son going to jail. However he assured that the prosecution of the case would proceed freely with out authorities strain or intervention.
“I want my son luck and energy,” he wrote. “Could these occasions forge his character and will he mirror on his personal errors.”
President Petro’s peace efforts have had blended success. The federal government and the Nationwide Liberation Military, the nation’s largest insurgent group, agreed to a 180-day cease-fire final month, whereas talks with the Clan del Golfo, Colombia’s important drug trafficking group, have sputtered on account of persevering with violence.
One contentious proposal by President Petro would give decreased sentences to members of armed teams that dismantle prison networks, acknowledge their crimes, do sufferer restoration work, and switch over weapons and details about their actions.
Ms. Vásquez in March accused her ex-husband of pocketing marketing campaign donations to his father from folks linked to drug trafficking teams. She made the allegations in an interview with the Colombian journal Semana.
The arrests signify one other blow to the nation’s first leftist president, who has struggled to push a lot of his reforms via a divided Congress.
His first yr in workplace has been stricken by quite a few challenges, together with cupboard shake-ups and allegations of unlawful marketing campaign financing by his former ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti.
The newest scandal is more likely to make it much more troublesome for President Petro to enact reforms and to weaken his social gathering in upcoming native elections by giving leverage to his opponents, stated Sergio Guzmán, a Colombian political analyst.
“This hurts the president’s legitimacy, his battle towards narco-trafficking affect in politics, his battle towards conventional political elites,” Mr. Guzmán stated.
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