US State Department talks about “corruption” in the Petro president campaign

The United States Department of State published this Monday, April 22, 2024, the report on human rights. When talking about corruption, the administration of US President Joe Biden, reviewed the investigations of the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office.

“Corruption in the Government.” In that section of the State Department’s annual report on human rights, President Petro’s campaign is specifically mentioned. taking as a reference ongoing investigations in Colombia against his family and those that justify the accusation of illicit enrichment and money laundering against the eldest son of the current president.

“Corruption: The Attorney General’s Office opened investigations into President Petro’s son and brother for alleged acceptance of irregular payments, some of which allegedly financed Petro’s 2022 campaign”he says in a fragment of the report.

Although this mention draws attention, in that same section of the report There are numerous reports of government corruption during the year 2023 in Colombia, particularly at the local level. In addition, it also highlights other research.

“Prosecutors… reported that since January they began 12 new investigations of nine former senators and three former House representatives, 36 investigations of 39 former governors, 94 investigations of 25 governors and four investigations of former mayors,” the report states.

The report is part of a global evaluation of the state of human rights that, although In the case of Colombia, he assures that there were no significant changes in the situation, the outlook in the country and in the world does not look good, as the Secretary of State made clear.

“Once again we see human rights and the rule of law under pressure in more ways and in more places around the world,” said Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State.

Extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, restrictions on freedom of expression, among others, continued to occur during 2023, as well as kidnappings and other violations by criminal organizations such as ELN and FARC dissidents.