Colombian President Gustavo Petro, on Friday, accused the Colombian media of spreading false information and fabricating evidence to prove the existence of links between his government and dissidents from the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), amid the scandal of the fine imposed by the National Electoral Council on those running his campaign in 2022 for “exceeding funding limits,” as “there was not a single peso from drug trafficking,” in the words of the president.
The Colombian president confirmed that the alleged conversations broadcast by media outlets such as El Tiempo or the Caracol network “turned out to be fabrications,” after being analyzed with artificial intelligence tools.
“They are lies. We have reviewed some of the chats that appeared in the screenshots broadcast on television, assuming only general information – and not those consistent with the investigation, which is the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor’s Office -. They were artificial conversations,” Pietro insisted during a speech broadcast live from his profiles on social networks.
These statements come in the context of controversy resulting from alleged agreements between dissident members and officials of the army, the Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Colombian police. These suspicions arose after the confiscation of the files of dissident leader Alexandre Díaz, nicknamed “Calarca”, the verification of which remains in the hands of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In this context, local media pointed to the senior official of the National Intelligence Directorate, Wilmer Mejía, who was temporarily dismissed, as a potential intermediary between members of the dissidents and sectors of the public force, with his presence in secret meetings and the exchange of information and communications inside and outside the country.
In this regard, Petro praised his administration’s decisions on security matters and rejected any influence from Mejia on them, stressing that the official “only belonged to one of the agencies that formulates the assessments” and that he did not necessarily follow its recommendations.
“All this is a lie, because the only government that discovered that the surveillance supervision of an institution of the national government was used to arm criminals is my government,” he previously claimed to defend, “If Petro has had any position in the last two decades in the direct fight against drug traffickers, at the expense of his life and the life of his family, it is to take the state (seriously) and develop the law.”
The President also rejected the alleged links with other names that emerged in the course of the aforementioned investigation, such as General Juan Miguel Huertas, whom the seized files classify as an alleged facilitator of the creation of front security companies and to ensure the movement of armed men.
On this occasion, Petro noted that Huertas “was not part of the government of Colombia at that time,” because “he was a general in the previous government and was removed from the army in 2021”; He doubted that the material took so long to come to light, which is happening now, coinciding with a politically sensitive moment.
“Sixteen months without notifying the government, which jeopardizes all the operations we carried out against organized armed groups (…). The 16-month delay affected us operationally, and (…) now, in the elections, it is clear that it affects us politically,” he said.
Petro’s intervention came just one day after the Colombian Attorney General’s Office was notified of the temporary suspension of Army General Juan Miguel Huertas and DNI agent Wilmar Mejía over their alleged links to dissidents from the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia led by Alexandre Mendoza, known as “Calarca.”
The plot is based on the content of several computers seized – along with weapons and money – from Calarca himself during an army inspection in July 2024. Several people were arrested at the time, although they were later released, including the guerrilla leader himself, after the prosecutor’s office indicated that they were acting as peace managers. Mejia is also alleged to have leaked confidential data.
The content of other conversations addresses the alleged intermediary role of Vice President Francia Márquez in financing the defection of Ivan Mordesco’s Central General Staff (EMC) and the campaign of President Gustavo Petro.
The President, for his part, noted that he was actually responsible for informing the Attorney General’s Office of a total of six security companies “linked to criminals” that were legal in the previous government and in which “dark politicians and businessmen” could have been involved.
Colombia has entered preparations for the 2026 elections, in which Congress will be renewed and a new president will be elected. The legislative elections are scheduled to be held on March 8, and the first presidential round on May 31. If there was a need for a second round, it was set for June 21 of the same year.