Armando Benedetti and Laura Sarabia Andrea Hernandez Briceno
In the corridors of the Casa de Nariño, the President’s residence, a conspiracy story is being spun these weeks that is on the way to becoming a national scandal. Implicated in the entanglement are two people closest to the Colombian President: Gustavo Petro, who is beginning to pile up internal problems. On the one hand, his chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, right-hand man and, at just 29, a rising figure in his government. On the other hand, Armando Benedetti, the politician who brought him to power during the election campaign and is now the ambassador in Caracas. Benedetti and Sarabia were close until recently. He was her boss and he was the one who introduced her to the President, which gave him access to this important position. Today both are embroiled in a war that forces Petro to intervene as if he were a father.
The name of Sarabia was in the press for several days as a case with domestic overtones landed in the palace. Her son’s caregiver, Marelbys Meza, underwent a polygraph at Colombia’s presidential office in January after a briefcase containing several thousand dollars disappeared from the official’s home. The babysitter told Semana magazine that she felt intimidated and pressured into committing a theft that she believed she had not committed. The worker reported what she considered harassment to prosecutors, and prosecutors decided to protect her. Sarabia defended itself, assuring that the Presidential Protection Headquarters and the police acted according to protocols established by law. It seemed like that would be the end of it all, but history turned on its head.
Journalist Daniel Coronell reported on W radio this Wednesday that the current ambassador to Venezuela was behind the controversy. Coronell assures that sources close to Sarabia accuse Benedetti of blackmailing her over the matter. The nanny would previously have worked with the politician and his family and was subjected to a polygraph test for a robbery at her boss’ house at the time, leading to her being the perpetrator of the theft. A few weeks ago, before the scandal broke, Benedetti took Meza on a private flight to Caracas, where the nanny stayed for several days before returning to Colombia to give the interview to Semana.
The information also shows that the day before the publication, the ambassador met with the director of this magazine, Vicky Dávila, and later sent a message to Sarabia: “I just spoke to Vicky (sic) after you told me about la told Mari (…) You were right. It is possible that this circumstance (sic) can be avoided… I hope you understand the meaning of this message! Sarabia interpreted it as blackmail.
The ambassador insists that there was no threat in his message. He defends that he acted principally to help Sarabia, who asked him to mediate after the nanny allegedly spoke to various media outlets alone and without his mediation. “It’s the other way around: Laura Sarabia is looking for me and I hire her.” [a la niñera]. For now, the problem for Sarabia is that the amount of money or the flow of cash that was in his home has been disclosed,” Benedetti said on Twitter. What he does admit, however, is that he went along with it in the end: “I ended up being just an accomplice, with great joy.”
The amount of money Sarabia kept in his home is also disputed. According to Sarabia, someone stole $7,000, which she justified as travel expenses on official trips, and she reported it to prosecutors. In his Twitter thread, Benedetti even speaks of more than $30,000 in cash. “Why (sic) did he have 150 million pesos in a suitcase, facts being investigated?” (sic),” the ambassador wondered, leaving the question of the origin of his former subordinate’s money floating around.
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specifies that @DCoronell he didn’t after I talked to him for more than an hour:@laurisarabia She called me at 1pm on April 17th to tell me that she was concerned because Marelbys was in contact with various journalists and asked me to help her.
— Armando Benedetti (@AABenedetti) May 31, 2023
In the midst of this scandal involving two of his closest associates, Petro has decided to intervene. Although he is in Brazil these days and attending the South American summit, the President summoned Benedetti on Thursday to discuss the matter once he landed in Bogotá. Throughout the morning the Presidency has been broadcasting images from Brazil showing Sarabia with Petro. Meanwhile, Benedetti is looking for his defense on social networks: “It is very clear that I have not built a conspiracy. It is Marelbyss who, through a friend, starts looking for the media. My “sin” is that I knew it would be published and I kept quiet. Due to the truthfulness and seriousness of the facts, there was no way to prevent this.” It remains to be seen whether Petro will acquit him.
In an interview profile given to him by EL PAÍS, Sarabia recognized Benedetti as his mentor. “I learned everything from him. He is a political fox, a complex person. I learned to have leather,” he said of him. “Together they traveled the country from one end to the other and started running around the clock. They participated in an election to the Senate, in which Benedetti was elected. It has succeeded in mixing two souls that are so different,” the text says. Later, Benedetti and Sarabia joined Petro, being his shadow during the campaign and accompanying him to the door of success. Back then it was three friends who seized power together. The triangle is now broken and, given the allegations leveled against each other, it seems impossible to rebuild. Petro has a fire at home.
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