The Colombian government is facing a major scandal as illegal phone tapping was added to the allegations of abuses being investigated among top aides of President Gustavo Petro. The attorney general's office is now probing the monitoring of phone conversations of two former employees of Petro's chief of staff, Laura Sarabia. The scandal came to light when one of the women, who had been serving as a nanny for Sarabia, revealed to the local media that she was interrogated and subjected to a lie-detector test in a building across the presidential palace. This was seen as a blatant abuse of power since only the attorney general's office has the authority to investigate crimes.
The woman, Marelbys Meza, had been fired by Sarabia, who had accused her of stealing thousands of dollars from her apartment. To gain access to their communications, Meza and a cleaner were included in an investigation into Colombia's biggest drug cartel, despite having no connection with it. According to the Attorney General's office, the police had violated privacy laws through this improper conduct. Sarabia claimed on Twitter that the missing money amounted to less than $7,000 and corresponded to reimbursed expenses from foreign travel.
Meza had previously worked for Armando Benedetti, who was in charge of Petro's presidential campaign. Benedetti is now Colombia's ambassador to Venezuela. It was reported that before the scandal erupted, Benedetti arranged for Meza to travel to Caracas on a private flight, although the details of this arrangement are unclear.
This scandal is an unwelcome distraction for Petro, who is struggling to push through his ambitious bills to overhaul the country's pension, health, and labor markets. It could also damage his alliance of leftist parties, the Historic Pact, ahead of regional elections in October. Reports suggest that both Sarabia and Benedetti will be ousted soon. A poll taken after these revelations showed that Petro's approval rating had plummeted from 50% in November to just 34%.
Late on Thursday, Petro dismissed the accusations as "a great irresponsibility," stating that he would give a statement about the case the next day. This scandal comes eight years after the 2002-2010 presidency of Alvaro Uribe was hit by wiretapping scandals. This situation could lead to calls for greater transparency and accountability in Colombia's government institutions.