(Bogotá) The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to protect President Gustavo Petro, after the opening of an investigation by the electoral authority for overspending on campaign which he describes as an attempted “coup d’état”.
“The case is already before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. We request precautionary measures for citizen president Gustavo Petro,” Jorge Rojas, vice minister of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference.
These precautionary measures of inter-American justice urge “States to defend individuals or groups in the face of a serious and urgent situation”.
The Colombian electoral authority opened an administrative investigation on Tuesday into a possible overrun in President Gustavo Petro’s campaign accounts during the 2022 presidential election.
The head of state and leaders of his team “are accused of having allegedly violated the spending ceiling” of $880,000, according to the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), César Lorduy.
The first left-wing president in Colombia’s history faces financial sanctions. However, according to experts, the CNE could transmit its investigation to the Lower House of Parliament which could take it up and initiate dismissal proceedings.
“The coup has begun,” said Mr. Petro, who considers the CNE biased and accuses some of its magistrates of being close to right-wing opposition parties. He then launched a call for the mobilization of his supporters.
On Wednesday he received the support of the new president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, who expressed her “solidarity with President Petro”, present at his inauguration in early October. “Always our support and solidarity when there is injustice,” she added.
This is not the first time Petro has requested such protection. In 2013, the economist and former guerrilla was removed from his post as mayor of Bogotá and stripped of his mandate for 15 years in a case over reform of the city’s garbage collection system. A few months later, he benefited from precautionary measures from the IACHR and a court in the capital ruled in favor of his reinstatement as mayor.