International
Petro on the formulation of charges against him: “It’s the beginning of a coup d’état”
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, assured on Wednesday that the country initiated “a coup d’état” with the favorable presentation presented by two magistrates of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to bring charges against him for the alleged irregular financing of his campaign.
“If the Constitution says that the President of the Republic cannot be tried by an entity other than the Commission of Accusations (of the Chamber) (…) Why have two entities belonging to an administrative entity said that they raise charges against the president? That is deeply unconstitutional and is the beginning of a coup d’état in Colombia,” the president said.
CNE magistrates Álvaro Prada and Benjamín Ortiz, who are in charge of the investigation, filed the presentation that also calls for charges to be made against Ricardo Roa, president of the state oil company Ecopetrol and who was its campaign manager, according to local media on Wednesday.
In this regard, Petro, who spoke during a day of ‘Government with the popular neighborhoods’ in Cartagena de Indias, and said that “11 and a half million Colombians (who voted for him in the second round of the 2022 elections) will lose their political rights.”
“Not because no criminal judge has ruled that they are criminals, but because it was decided by the Colombian oligarchy and the corruption regime. They want to determine, as they have done in so many Latin American countries, that the president of the Republic despite being elected by the people of Colombia has to stop being president because four or five vagabonds of the political so want it,” Petro added.
Finally, he said that he will remain in office “as far as the people say.”
“If the people say later, later I will go without any fear, without any fear, we will go to where the Colombian people orders. The president of the Republic has only one commander at the front,” he said.
The National Electoral Council (CNE), which will study a paper that recommends charging the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, for the alleged irregular financing of his campaign and violation of the electoral expenses cap, rejected the statements of the president, who considered that decision the beginning of a “coup d’état”, because they “put their magistrates at risk.”
“The serious statements against the members of this corporation break the normal functioning of the democratic system and put at risk those who are in charge of making decisions in fulfillment of their constitutional functions,” the CNE said on Wednesday in a statement.
Magistrates Álvaro Hernán Prada, former congressman of the right-wing Democratic Center party, and Benjamín Ortiz, former secretary general of the CNE, presented a presentation favorable to the positioning of charges against Petro and against Ricardo Roa, president of the state oil company Ecopetrol and who was manager of his 2022 presidential campaign, due to the alleged irregular financing of it.
The presentation presented by the two magistrates will be discussed by the full chamber of the CNE, composed of nine members, who will decide whether to admit it to continue with the process, for which they need the votes of at least five magistrates, or if, on the contrary, they file it.
This case dates back to February 2023 when the CNE opened a preliminary investigation against Petro’s presidential campaign for alleged irregularities in its financing.
As reported by that body at the time, the investigation was opened “based on the anonymous complaint filed for alleged irregularities in the financing and presentation of income and expenditure reports of the first and second presidential electoral campaign” of the Historical Pact, the left-wing coalition that led Petro to the Presidency in 2022.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction