International

Colombia: President Petro’s son does not accept charges of illicit enrichment and money laundering

Photo: AP

August 2|

The son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro did not accept on Tuesday the charges of illicit enrichment and money laundering of which he has been accused by judicial authorities.

Nicolás Petro rejected the charges in a hearing in which the Attorney General’s Office set out the elements against him.

The son of the head of state was captured on Saturday in Barranquilla, a city in the north of the country. His ex-wife, Daysuris del Carmen Vásquez, was also arrested that day.

Nicolás Petro – who serves as a deputy of the Departmental Assembly of Atlántico, in northern Colombia – is accused by judicial authorities of having illegally increased his wealth.

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The investigation by the Attorney General’s Office began after allegations by his ex-wife, who claimed that she had received money for her father’s presidential campaign but kept those resources for herself.

The Attorney General’s Office exposed on Tuesday that the illegal increase in the assets of the president’s son would have reached $270,000 in 2022, the same year of the campaign in which his father won the head of state.

In the hearing the prosecutor in charge of the case, Mario Andrés Burgos, made a comparison between Nicolás Petro’s income in his work as departmental assemblyman and the expenses he had last year and concluded that he earned around $71,000 but his expenses amounted to about $308,000. According to Burgos, the Attorney General’s Office found no other income declared by Nicolás Petro nor financial credits that would justify that level of spending.

At the same time he exposed the allegations made by his ex-wife before the investigating entity. According to these accusations, Nicolás Petro would have received around $270,000, in different payments, from Samuel Santander Lopesierra, convicted in Colombia and who served a prison sentence in the United States for crimes related to drug trafficking.

Lopesierra is running for mayor of Maicao in La Guajira, in the north of the country, in an election next October.

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According to Vasquez’s allegations, her ex-husband also allegedly received money from Alfonso del Cristo “El Turco” Hilsaca through his son, Gabriel Hilsaca. “El turco” Hilsaca is being prosecuted for homicide and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Both payments, according to the president’s former daughter-in-law, were for Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign, but according to prosecutor Burgos, Nicolás Petro “never” delivered that money but bought goods. Through these acquisitions -according to the Attorney General’s Office-, the president’s son would have sought to “give the appearance of legality” to the money received, which would constitute the crime of money laundering.

Now the judge in charge of the case must decide whether or not to grant the preventive detention requested by the Attorney General’s Office.

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.

International

U.S. counterterrorism chief resigns over opposition to war in Iran

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday that he has resigned from his post, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.

In a post on X, Kent said he could not, “in good conscience,” support the conflict, arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. He also claimed that the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its lobbying influence in Washington.

In a resignation letter addressed to Donald Trump, Kent alleged that at the start of the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential figures in U.S. media carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined the “America First” platform and fostered pro-war sentiment aimed at triggering a conflict with Iran.

Kent further stated that he could not support sending a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives.”

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, while 10 others have been seriously wounded and around 200 have sustained minor injuries, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

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International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

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Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”