3 minWorld
Former Colombian president Gustavo Petro accused of exploiting dozens of women
Colombia’s presidency department director accuses former president Gustavo Petro of using service contracts to control 48 women for intimate relationships, an allegation Petro denies.
Former Colombian President Gustavo Petro is facing accusations that he used public contracts to trap and exploit 48 women for presidential parties. Carlos Andrés Ríos, director of Colombia’s Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE), told lawmakers that the women were hired «just to be with President Petro» and that a system of service contracts was used to control them while channeling public salaries in exchange for intimate relationships.
Ríos made the claims during a congressional hearing last week. He said the Casa de Nariño, the presidential palace, had been set up and organized for something other than governing. «We are going to prove to the Colombian people how the Casa de Nariño was unfortunately set up, organized, and tailored for something completely different — not to govern, but to party there every single day, bring in women,» Ríos said. He described the arrangement as systematic, saying that service contracts were used to control and weaponize the women involved. The allegations have not been tested in court.
The accusations come amid broader criticism of Petro over alleged misuse of public funds, depletion of national budgets and drug trafficking. Petro has dismissed those allegations as politically motivated attacks, citing comments from figures including U.S. President Donald Trump and Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella. In his response, he said such attacks had been made without presenting a single piece of evidence of corruption or drug trafficking.
Petro issued a statement on Sunday denying that he had used his public office to obtain sex. «I have never given out a contract in exchange for sexual relations. I would vomit on myself if I ever did such a thing,» he wrote in a post on X. He argued that state-funded aid programs for vulnerable women, including female heads of households and people engaged in sex work, are fundamentally different from giving contracts to individuals in exchange for sexual favors. He said that no person who had participated in those public programs could say he had done anything of the sort.
Petro also acknowledged that when he was very young he occasionally visited places where sex work was practiced. He said he had found that paying for sex felt dirty to him, and that he perceived the sadness of the men and women who attended those places. He said he regretted those experiences and stopped visiting such venues decades ago. He added that he had never stolen a single peso from the public treasury and had fought for over two decades against drug traffickers, exposing their political ties.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the allegations.
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