Prosecutors open investigation into alleged plans to assassinate President Petro
▲ Colombian President Gustavo Petro yesterday during his speech at the Summit of the Future, which is taking place at the UN headquarters in New York.Photo Ap
AFP, Xinhua and Europa Press
The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, p. 24
Bogotá. The head of the National Intelligence Directorate of Colombia, Jorge Lemus, denounced yesterday that the government of former President Iván Duque (2018-2022) bought the software Israeli spy Pegasus with money from money laundering, according to an investigation ordered by President Gustavo Petro.
Since the beginning of the month, Colombian authorities have been following the trail of the alleged purchase, in 2021, of the computer program that infects cell phones to extract information from them and that allows remote activation of the camera and microphone, among other functions.
According to the complaint made by Petro, the software It was acquired for $11 million in cash during the government of his predecessor and political rival, the right-wing Iván Duque.
We are certain that this is money laundering in the investigation we are carrying out.Lemus said in an interview broadcast yesterday by the public channel Señal Colombia.
Pegasus It became known worldwide in 2021, when a consortium of 17 international media outlets revealed that thousands of public figures were spied on in Mexico, Hungary, Poland and Saudi Arabia, among other countries.
Media from Israel and Colombia denounced the alleged irregular transaction between the Colombian police and NSO Group, manufacturer of Pegasus.
Lemus added that the Israeli company declared the money in Israel, but committed irregularities when receiving the payment in Colombia. The money They left illegally, they left no trace. They were committing a crimehe added.
Duque government officials deny having made any arrangements to buy the software in 2021, the year in which the administration was the target of massive protests that left dozens dead.
The Attorney General, Luz Adriana Camargo, said that there is no certainty about the use of the drug in Colombia. softwarebecause it is very difficult to track.
In other news, yesterday the Colombian prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into alleged plans to attack Petro, after the president reported that he had information from the United States about an alleged attack.
The president revealed several weeks ago that the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was behind the information that would have allowed the thwarting of a plan to assassinate him using a truck loaded with dynamite.
The clues came from an area where the M-19 guerrilla group, to which Petro himself belonged, was present and where the rifles for the plan were purchased. One of those involved informed an American lawyer of the preparations, and he informed the DEA.
From there it passed to the progressive leader through the US ambassador in the country, Francisco Palmieri.
Petro linked this assassination attempt to the head of the Central General Staff of the dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Néstor Gregorio Vera, alias Ivan Bitesomething the group denied.
