The maximum security prison of La Picota ended up becoming, in recent weeks, another of the epicenters of the presidential campaign, due to the activities of two bishops of the candidate for the presidency of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro.
72 hours ago, the heads of that coalition met in an emergency, at the headquarters of the Polo Democrático, to establish how far they can go with the mission that Petro entrusted to them last Monday: to evaluate the conduct of senator-elect Piedad Córdoba.
The candidate ordered her to suspend all her activities within the campaign “until she can resolve, hopefully favorably, the legal charges against her.”
And although he did not give further details, Roy Barreras, another of his squires, was in charge of confirming that behind the decision there are also the senator’s income to La Picota and his supposed offers to extraditables.
Jail and “social forgiveness”
The episode coincided with two other events that ended up shaking the campaign and that Petro’s opponents capitalized on.
One of them was the trip of a magistrate of the Supreme Court to Spain, to hear the general (r) chavista Hugo ‘Chicken’ Carvajal on the alleged financing of the Venezuelan regime to Petro.
And the other, the visit of his brother Juan Fernando, also to La Picota (last April 8), to talk about ‘social forgiveness’ with the corrupt and ‘para-politicians’, which triggered discomfort among his militants and a distancing with the candidate.
Two cases in the US could affect Petro
Despite the fact that Petro came out to dismiss and distance himself from these episodes, at least two of them promise to have legal outcomes in the medium term.
In the case of Piedad Córdoba, her future is not in the ethics committee of the Historical Pact, which is going to be created just next week.
Time established that in the United States there is no longer one but two investigations that touch upon Piedad.
The first, revealed by Time since 2019, she has been related to her financial ties to Álex Saab, a product of opaque business dealings with the Nicolás Maduro regime.
This chapter evaluates evidence and testimony about possible money laundering and a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which Córdoba denies.
And the other, the freshest and most incipient, is related to the alleged offers that he would have made during his visits to La Picota to modify the extradition, if Petro wins.
There are testimonies of detained capos who stopped negotiations with the DEA under that expectation. And request forms for visits to prisoners, some extraditable.
key figures
Lawyer Antonio Güette told Time that the inmates are his clients: Javier Zuluaga, alias Gordo Lindo; and Óscar Moreno, the ‘king of the narco-semi-submersibles’.
In addition, Jorge Vallejo Alarcón, designated criminal leader of Bello and Valle de Aburrá; and Juan Carlos Cuesta, a member of the ‘Gulf Clan’.
Güette added that, as he advises the also extraditable Álvaro Freddy Córdoba, the senator’s brother, he entered the prison with her and held joint working groups with the detainees where he never proposed to stop the extradition.
In any case, in the United States a possible obstruction of justice is being evaluated.
The Court and the Chicken
As for the investigations into business with Saab, they are intertwined with the file being carried out by Cristina Lombana, a magistrate of the Supreme Court, against Piedad Córdoba.
However, in addition to the movements of money resulting from alleged commissions related to Saab, in Colombia that file has another vein: the alleged political use that Piedad gave to the release of hostages in the hands of the Farc and his closeness to that ex-guerrilla, accusations that she also denies.
Last Friday, Lombana collected a new testimony in Spain within that process. He heard a statement from Braulio Augusto Sánchez, a man from Cucuta who was imprisoned, investigated for homicide, and who was later the victim of an attack.
Lombana took advantage of that day to seek the declaration of General (r) Chavista Hugo ‘Pollo’ Carvajal, after he pointed out that Petro was one of the politicians to whom the Venezuelan regime gave money to spread the Castrochavista germ in Latin America.
But as revealed Time Initially, Carvajal refused to testify, arguing that he was in an extradition process to the United States.
“The information is being reserved to negotiate with the DEA and obtain discounts within the process that is being followed for drug and arms trafficking, in addition to corruption, which can cost him up to a life sentence,” said a source close to the process, in the Southern Court of New York.
And he added that although he has already begun to release information, he has not yet reached the chapter of politicians.
Crucial moments for Petro
However, in Petro’s campaign – who was the one who asked to be investigated – they interpreted the silence of ‘Pollo’ as evidence that he has no evidence to support his claims.
In the case of Córdoba, after complying with the decision of his political boss to withdraw from the campaign and deny any “client agreement with drug lords in exchange for electoral support,” he explained that his visits to La Picota are due to family and legal support. that he is giving to his brother Álvaro, in the prelude to extradition. He also said that he will submit to the ethics commission and insisted that everything is a setup against him.
The Historical Pact is going to define how far they are going to go in that case, according to the facts and competences.
As explained by the lawyer Dagoberto Quiroga, representative of Colombia Humana, they could conclude that (as the senator says) the accusations against them are an entrapment. But, also, evaluate even if it is requested that his possession be stopped as a congressman, next July 20.
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