This Tuesday, the Accusations Commission of the House of Representatives confirmed that it had opened an investigation against President Gustavo Petro over alleged political interference ahead of next Sunday’s elections, in which his successor will be chosen. The president is accused of favoring the ruling party’s candidate, Iván Cepeda.
But it emerged that this is not the only investigation being carried out by the legislative body, the only instance with the authority to investigate and, eventually, sanction a head of state. This, however, is a rather unusual scenario because practically no process against any president has ever succeeded in that commission, which is why citizens have given it the name “Commission of Acquittals.”
Response to request from the Attorney General’s Office
In recent hours, that corporation made public a letter in which it confirmed to the Attorney General’s Office that ten case files had been opened regarding those possible actions by the head of state, accusations that arose in the middle of the presidential election race. The case files are in Congress offices, and investigators from the Public Ministry will be able to review them directly to learn about the evidence held by the legislative body.
“Regarding the additional information requested about each of the proceedings, it is specified that the Attorney General’s Office is part of the processes underway before this Commission regarding constitutional officeholders, for which reason it has access to the corresponding proceedings within the framework of its legal and constitutional powers,” says the communication from the Accusations Commission to the Attorney General’s Office.
The letter was sent by Gloria Arizabaleta, president of the Investigation Commission, from the Historic Pact, the ruling party, this Tuesday, May 26. Everything seems to indicate that it is in response to the Attorney General’s Office regarding the request for information on that matter made by that disciplinary oversight body.
The letter details that “the consultation and review of the case files may be carried out directly at the facilities of the Investigation and Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives,” which would mean that within days investigators from the Attorney General’s Office will be evaluating those case files against President Gustavo Petro.
Other forms of alleged participation in politics
In recent days, the president has been the target of criticism from opposition sectors because of his posts on the social media platform X, where, according to his critics, he participates directly in politics in order to promote Cepeda’s candidacy. The Historic Pact candidate has assured during his campaign that he will give continuity to Petro’s government, and the president invites people in different ways to vote for what would be Colombia’s second consecutive progressive government.
In addition to these accusations, President Petro is accused of carrying out a discrediting campaign against the National Civil Registry, organizer of the elections, making advance accusations of electoral fraud, which has raised concern in the country over whether he will recognize the results of the elections that will take place next Sunday, even if his candidate Cepeda ends up losing.
But President Petro’s critics over his support for Cepeda are looking even further. They even claim that the president has placed the machinery of the State at the candidate’s disposal as an electoral machine, violating Article 127 of the Constitution, which orders preventing the power of the Presidency from being used to rig an election.
Those accusations are related to actions in which public resources have been used in the middle of the electoral season, such as the expansion of the official payroll with more than 35,000 new jobs; the freezing, during the months of April, May, and June, of ICETEX interest rates; the delivery of subsidies to 1.36 million older adults; the increase of the minimum wage by 23 percent; and the reduction of tolls in the department of Caldas, among other measures.