The United States provided money in 2020 for Colombia purchased the Pegasus spy software as part of the fight against drug trafficking without informing former right-wing president Iván Duque, US officials said this Friday, November 8.
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They thus confirm information revealed exclusively by the Colombian newspaper EL TIEMPO.
The funds for the purchase of the Israeli spy program, that remotely accesses messages, calls and files on a phone, They were disbursed during the administration of Republican President Donald Trump, winner of this week’s presidential election, said officials who requested anonymity.
Upon leaving a meeting with White House security officials, the Colombian ambassador in Washington Daniel García-Peña He stated that the Colombian authorities did not receive the program.
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“They assured us that the software was never delivered to the Colombian authorities, but rather that it was the Colombian authorities who told those who they considered should be the target of these interceptions,” declared.
And “There was supervision by North American authorities to supposedly guarantee that it was only directed against these drug trafficking ringleaders”he adds.
‘Neither Duque nor Petro was informed’
US officials confirmed that strict protocols were established to prevent illicit use and nothing indicates that the Colombian security services misused it to monitor politicians.
The United States did not use this tool on its own in Colombian territory, these sources emphasize.
Only a small number of security officials were aware and Washington did not inform Duque (2018-2022)) about him and also later to his leftist successor Gustavo Petro, these senior American officials add.
In 2021 An international consortium of 17 media revealed that the software was used to spy on thousands of personalities, such as journalists, political activists or lawyersin numerous countries.
As a consequence of this, Washington decided, the sources specify, to adopt concrete measures to counteract it by imposing financial sanctions, export controls or visa restrictions.
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Officials insisted the U.S. government ended the program in 2022, before Petro took office.
In September, the Colombian prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the purchase which, according to the Minister of Justice Ángela María Buitrago on the social network ‘it has to continue’ until we know the conclusions.
In October Petro assured that executives of the Israeli company NSO Group, creator of Pegasus, transported 11 million dollars by plane from the sale of malicious software.
The Colombian ambassador estimates that “There are still many doubts about what happened.”
According to him, they guaranteed him that the software was directed “exclusively to the drug cartels of Colombia and Mexico.”
And what a Duke “he was not aware of the operation”, contrary to what Petro claimed until now. His predecessor always denied it.
Ivan Duque
EFE
‘It seems suspicious to us’
“We were very vehement in demanding total transparency and the publication of the information that could have been collected” during the time that the computer program was operational, the ambassador stated.
“It seems suspicious and irregular to me that these payments are made in cash”he declared. They do it in cash “supposedly to avoid traceability of resources which makes it more suspicious.”
The diplomat described ‘solid’ the relationship between Colombia and the United States despite the fact that the Colombian government found out about ‘the details’ by the press.
AFP
