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Micrófono profesional en un estudio de radio durante una transmisión en vivo
El testimonio radial de una periodista sobre un encuentro con el entonces presidente Gustavo Petro reavivó la controversia por las denuncias en su contra. · Imagen generada para EPM

Radio testimony on Petro revives controversy over alleged contracts

Journalist Vanessa de la Torre described on a live radio broadcast an encounter with then President Gustavo Petro in Cartagena, amid allegations by Deicy…

Journalist Vanessa de la Torre described on a live radio broadcast an encounter that, according to her account, she had with then President Gustavo Petro at the Cartagena airport. --- The context --- Her testimony became public amid the controversy over the allegations of Deicy Jiménez, a former contractor who claims Petro allegedly favored women with jobs or service orders in exchange for sexual relations, alleged accusations with no judicial decision. According to the journalist, she traveled to Cartagena one day after Petro canceled his agenda over an alleged flu-like illness, and she said she found him at the airport in circumstances that contrasted with the official announcement. --- The facts --- According to De la Torre, Petro was accompanied, protected by his security detail and in poor condition, and when she greeted him and asked about his health, he allegedly replied that he had already improved a little. The journalist said she kept the episode private for years because she considered it part of the president's personal life, and that she only made it public now, amid the national debate over Jiménez's allegations. Jiménez released a 54-second video alongside the former president that, according to her, supports a link, but the recording by itself does not prove contracts in exchange for favors, and Secop records show her contracts with the Senate, the Interior Ministry and the Superintendency of Surveillance, with no judicial decision linking them to intimate encounters. --- The positions --- Petro categorically denied the accusations and maintained that the video has not been examined by experts or assessed by a judge and that no contracts or payments appear in the images. Jiménez stands by her complaint, has already testified before the Supreme Court of Justice and her lawyer Dina Luz Malo announced she will hand the video to the authorities, while prosecutors opened a criminal investigation on October 23 and the Inspector General's Office conducts a preliminary disciplinary inquiry. --- What remains unknown --- There is still no judicial assessment of the video or substantive pronouncement on the unproven relationship between Jiménez's verifiable contracts and the conduct she denounces, so the available elements remain testimonies and records whose scope has yet to be determined. --- Unanswered questions --- What will prosecutors and oversight bodies determine about the authenticity, date and context of the 54-second video? Is there verifiable evidence linking the Secop contracts to the conduct denounced by Jiménez? What weight will De la Torre's testimony carry in the ongoing investigations? --- EPM analysis --- Her account adds public pressure to the case, but it does not replace the evidentiary burden of the authorities, because it is testimony about a private encounter that the journalist herself kept reserved for years and whose independent verification has not yet occurred. In a matter mixing private life, public power and alleged irregularities in state contracting, distinguishing between what is recounted, what is recorded and what is proven is decisive to avoid an early judgment without competent decisions. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, De la Torre's testimony should be read with the caution required by any account not yet verified by an authority, without dismissing it outright or turning it into proof of Jiménez's allegations. The accusations are serious because they involve the alleged use of power and public contracting, and for that very reason they require expert examinations, judicial decisions and results from prosecutors and oversight bodies before any definitive conclusion about the responsibilities of the former president or of those who publicly accuse him in this case.
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