Gustavo Petro’s private life has become the focus of public debate in Colombia. The allegations against the former president have left Colombia’s left-wing opposition in a difficult position. Back in opposition after Petro’s presidency and now holding the largest bloc in Congress, albeit well short of a majority, it is trying to resist the offensive launched by the far-right government of Abelardo de la Espriella.
But the accusations, which claim that Petro awarded public contracts to women in exchange for sex, have opened a Pandora’s box over practices both in the previous administration and within the Pacto Histórico (Historic Pact), the left-wing coalition that united Petro’s supporters into a single party, where tensions between different factions are beginning to show.
The left finds itself caught between loyalty to Petro and a desire to distance itself from him. While many on the left insist on due process and the presumption of innocence, calls for introspection and self-criticism are growing, particularly over what critics see as a betrayal of the feminist principles the movement once championed.
The allegations go beyond the private life of the first left-wing president in modern Colombian history. Deicy Jiménez, a 26-year-old woman who received several state contracts during the previous administration, claimed last month that the 66-year-old former president set up a network of women whom he rewarded with public jobs in exchange for sexual relationships. Shortly afterwards, she released a video showing the two kissing. Since then, additional videos and chat messages have been leaked to the media.
Petro has denied the allegations, though not his relationship with Jiménez, who is 40 years his junior, and has said he will defend himself “before the courts,” rather than on social media, his preferred means of communication. Even so, he took to X on Monday to respond to what he described as a “false narrative.”
The head of President Abelardo de la Espriella’s Administrative Department of the Presidency, known as Dapre, has claimed that the network involved more than 40 women, though he has provided no further details or evidence, and the allegations remain under investigation. Beyond feminist criticism, the right has found a political gold mine in the former president’s scandal-ridden sex life and has seized on it to mount relentless attacks on his character and morality.
Last week, Noticias Caracol published a chat exchange from late 2025 in which Petro appears to ask the then head of Dapre to renew a contract for Deicy Jiménez at the Interior Ministry. Jiménez also held contracts with the Superintendency of Surveillance and with then-government senator María José Pizarro, who has said the accuser should be heard “with every guarantee” of due process.
Journalist María Jimena Duzán added to the controversy by writing in a column that at least 10 sources had described “getaways” with Petro involving “prostitutes, transvestites and friends who supplied him with hallucinogenic substances.” “Many of the people who attended his parties were paid with contracts to buy their silence,” Duzán wrote, without identifying her sources.
At a politically inopportune moment for internal divisions, the scandal has dealt a significant blow to Colombia’s left. Throughout his long political career, Petro, who has often been inclined to dominate the spotlight, has also been something of a politician without a party. After belonging to the M-19 Democratic Alliance, the political successor to the guerrilla movement he joined in his youth, he was a congressman, mayor of Bogotá and presidential candidate under a succession of parties and movements, including Vía Alterna, Polo Democrático Alternativo, Progresistas and Colombia Humana.
He ultimately reached the presidency backed by the Historic Pact, then a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of progressive forces. Under Petro’s influence, the coalition was transformed into a unified political party. Today it holds 26 of Colombia’s 103 Senate seats, more than any other single bloc.
Far from stepping away from politics after handing over power on August 7, Petro went on to take the helm of the Historic Pact, after promoting claims of electoral fraud that found no support among the country’s electoral authorities. He still retains considerable popular appeal, and there has been persistent speculation that he could run in next year’s local elections for mayors and governors, though the former president himself has neither confirmed nor denied the possibility.
That has not shielded him from criticism within his own camp as the scandal continues to unfold. Senator Iván Cepeda, the Historic Pact’s presidential candidate, who narrowly lost the runoff election to De la Espriella, urged the left on Sunday not to cover up violence against women out of political loyalty, though he stopped short of mentioning Petro by name. He hardly needed to. Speaking in Valledupar, Cepeda acknowledged that the Historic Pact still harbors “deep-rooted machismo and patriarchy in its leadership and throughout its structures.”
That tendency, added Cepeda, who is expected to lead the opposition, “manifests itself in strongman politics and the cult of male leadership; in the concentration of decision-making within circles of men; in the discrediting of women who exercise authority,” as well as “in the silencing of complaints and the revictimization of those who dare to speak out about abuse.” Progressives, he argued, cannot assume they are “immune” to such practices simply because of their history of social struggles. He called for a “collective reckoning” in which men acknowledge their privileges and examine their own behavior.
Sociologist and political analyst Sara Tufano, one of the first voices to denounce sexist practices within Colombia’s left and the Historic Pact, believes there is clearly a far-right campaign to discredit Petro that goes beyond the allegations, which she says must nevertheless be thoroughly investigated.
“One can recognize the achievements of the Petro government and, at the same time, acknowledge that he is sexist,” she says. “One can denounce his practices and, at the same time, denounce Abelardo’s tax reform. One can recognize the abuse of power and, at the same time, know that the right will instrumentalize the allegations.”“
She continues: “When there are accusations of this nature, and even more so when they involve a former president and party leader, the most sensible thing would be for him to step aside.”
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