Petro asks Colombian prosecutors to investigate purchase of spyware

Bogotá. Colombian President Gustavo Petro asked the prosecutor’s office in a national broadcast tonight to investigate the purchase of sophisticated spy software from an Israeli company that the Colombian police allegedly acquired in 2021 for $11 million to spy on him and other opponents, while in different cities of the country a truckers’ strike, in rejection of an increase in the price of diesel, lasted three days.

The president’s complaint refers to the Pegasus software, from the firm NSO Group, which has been linked to spying on human rights activists, journalists and politicians, from Mexico to Saudi Arabia.

Petro, who has previously claimed to have been the victim of interception of his communications when he was an opponent and then as a presidential candidate in 2022, suggested that this software was used to monitor detractors of the then government of Iván Duque (2018-2022).

““How do 11 million dollars in cash leave the country on a plane, or two, from state offices of the Dipol (Police Intelligence Directorate) to Israel to buy software that spies on cell phones, private communications… perhaps for months, for those of the main opposition party at the time?” the president questioned after reading a letter that, he warned, was confidential and only used for intelligence purposes.

The document he read, but did not release to the press, was reportedly a response from Switzerland’s financial investigation unit to a request for information from its Colombian counterpart dated August 2024. Petro said that since the letter had sensitive content it could not be released without prior consent from Israel’s anti-money laundering authority.

The president said he ignored the ban because he broke diplomatic relations with Israel last May in rejection of the “genocide” it is perpetrating in Gaza.

The letter states that Colombian police allegedly made two cash payments to the NSO Group in 2021 at a Tel Aviv bank, each for more than five million dollars.

“Let’s put it in perspective: it is before the campaigns that begin in October 2021, both for Congress and for presidential consultations, and we are in the middle of the social outbreak in Colombia,” said the president in reference to the massive demonstrations that took place against the Duque government.

““Who else did they intercept? What court order was used to ensure that such interference was not a crime? Where did the money come from?” he asked.

Since January 2023, Petro has requested an investigation into possible illegal interceptions following a journalistic investigation, according to which a group of officers with knowledge in cyber intelligence allegedly penetrated his campaign. As a result of this alleged espionage, videos of private meetings between campaign strategists and Petro came to light.

It was expected that he would refer in his speech to the protest by freight transporters against the rise in the price of diesel, but he only described it as “business-related, (which) in English is called a lock-out” and that “it has dark economic and political interests.”

His government yesterday issued an “urgent call” for freight and bus transporters protesting against the rise in the price of diesel to create “supply corridors” in response to warnings of food shortages in several cities, including Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Nariño and Boyacá.