According to Semana, neither sister held any employment or contract with the government during the period in question, yet between 2024 and 2026 they accumulated enough influence to sway executive-branch decisions, and — according to the magazine’s sources — effectively took control of three state entities: the Departamento Administrativo de la Presidencia de la República (Dapre, the administrative department of the presidency), the Fondo Colombia en Paz (Colombia in Peace Fund), and the now-liquidated Ministerio de la Igualdad (Ministry of Equality). El Tiempo, El Espectador, and other Colombian outlets picked up the allegations within hours.

A Price List for Access

The three whistleblowers, whose identities Semana withheld citing safety concerns, described a fixed tariff structure. A first meeting with the sisters cost $1 million COP. Juliana Guerrero would then allegedly handle the lobbying inside the government in exchange for an advance of $200 million COP plus 10 percent of the value of each project awarded, while businessmen were instructed to communicate exclusively with Verónica Guerrero for status updates. A separate $1 million COP fee applied for arranging meetings between mayors and national government officials.

The money, according to the report, was initially collected by David Trespalacios, a young Barranquilla man close to the family, who told the businessmen in a December 10, 2024 message that Verónica “does not want money in her accounts, which is why I have been collecting and delivering. I am handing her cash in Bogotá.” After an apparent falling-out with Trespalacios, Semana reports, the sisters began receiving deposits directly — including through the mobile payments platform Nequi, to an account number that Verónica identified in a December 28, 2024 chat as belonging to her sister Juliana. Deposit receipts reviewed by the magazine include transfers of $5 million COP, $1.8 million COP, $3.2 million COP, $3.95 million COP, $3.05 million COP, and $10 million COP, among others, and one distribution instruction attributed to Trespalacios reads: “Verónica Guerrero, savings account, 12.5 here; Juliana Guerrero, 12.5 here; Wilmer Trespalacios, 10.”

“If it is true, they gave money like fools, thinking that the ministers or I myself act under pressure from women or out of greed.” — President Gustavo Petro, on X

Aqueducts, Housing, and Security Cameras

The promised projects included an aqueduct in a Cesar municipality to be funded by the Ministry of Housing and channeled — according to what Verónica Guerrero told the businessmen — through then-Vice Minister of Water and Basic Sanitation Edward Libreros, whom Petro later fired on camera during a televised October 2025 council of ministers. Airline tickets purchased by the businessmen on December 5, 2024, to fly Verónica from Bogotá to Aguachica, Cesar, and back from Bucaramanga the same day, form part of the evidence. Semana’s report documents her subsequent WhatsApp updates: “My sister is already on it. She already spoke with him (Edward Libreros). They agreed to meet so she can tell him about the commitment.”

Other promised deals included home-improvement programs across multiple municipalities — under terms one businessman described as $35 million COP per municipality awarded, plus 10 percent of each project’s value — a security camera initiative financed by the Fondo Nacional de Seguridad y Convivencia Ciudadana (Fonsecon, the Interior Ministry’s security and coexistence fund), and, in June 2025, an aqueduct contract in La Guajira worth more than $27 billion COP through the Ministry of Housing. “That one is only with me, because I am the one who assigns it,” Verónica allegedly wrote of the La Guajira project.

“The Boss of Bosses”

Throughout the chats, Verónica Guerrero invoked her sister’s access to the highest levels of the government. “Juliana has a meeting today with the boss of bosses,” she wrote on January 21, 2025, when businessmen pressed for results — an expression the whistleblowers say the sisters used to refer to President Petro. In other messages she claimed to be sitting in budget-release meetings, reported that “the boss of bosses has already given clarity and is signing the unfreezing of ministry resources,” and described maneuvering to protect a secretary general at the Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible (Ministry of Environment): “If they topple my secretary, I lose a lot of things here.”

The magazine’s evidence also points to alleged influence or attempted influence at Fiduagraria S.A. (the state agricultural fiduciary), the Agencia Nacional de Tierras (National Land Agency), the Ministerio de Defensa in contracts at the Hospital Militar Central, and the Dapre. One chat suggests money flowed beyond the sisters: “I understand that is for the people inside (the government) and for you,” a businessman wrote, a characterization Verónica confirmed in the exchange, according to Semana.

More Than $600 Million COP, and Nothing Delivered

None of the promised contracts materialized. The three businessmen told Semana they handed over more than $600 million COP in total between 2024 and 2025. “They robbed us and do not want to give the money back,” they told the magazine. When one of them confronted Juliana Guerrero in the second half of 2025 over $70 million COP transferred to her Nequi account, she replied, per the chats: “I have no problem returning that, but let me talk to her (Verónica) first.” No refund followed, the businessmen say. None of the reports reviewed by Finance Colombia includes a public response from either sister; Semana published video of the two attending the Fiestas del Mar festival in Santa Marta on July 24, the night before the story broke.

Las pruebas que aquí se indican, reflejan, que los llamados “empresarios* se pusieron furiosos y a lo mejor entregaron los chats, porque no les cumplieron. Si es verdad, dieron dineros como pendejos, pensando que los ministros o yo mismo, actuamos por presiones de mujeres o por… https://t.co/JWaAtnGYz0

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) July 25, 2026

Petro: They “Gave Money Like Fools”

President Petro responded on his X account the same day, arguing that the story proves his government’s safeguards worked precisely because the contracts were never awarded. “The evidence indicated here reflects that the so-called ‘businessmen’ got furious and probably handed over the chats because they were not delivered for. If it is true, they gave money like fools, thinking that the ministers or I myself act under pressure from women or out of greed,” he wrote, adding: “The magazine would do a great favor by handing those chats to the prosecutor’s office… The corrupt businessmen appear to have been swindled, and the government prevented the theft.” He also quipped that the “boss of bosses apparently torpedoed the deals because he thinks about things other than greed,” and suggested the businessmen might “even turn out to be abelardistas” — a reference to supporters of President-elect Abelardo De La Espriella, who takes office August 7.

Criticism came from inside Petro’s own coalition. Carlos Carrillo, former director of the Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres (UNGRD, the national disaster risk management unit) — itself the center of an earlier procurement scandal that shook the Petro administration — wrote on X that although Semana “has an evident political bias, the evidence it publishes against the Guerrero sisters is very serious. The justice system must investigate what crimes may have been committed. It is very worrying that Fonsecon is also being mentioned — the multibillion-peso Interior Ministry fund in the hands of Armando Benedetti’s friends.” Benedetti, the interior minister whom Colombian media have long described as Juliana Guerrero’s political sponsor, was himself sanctioned by the US Treasury’s OFAC in October 2025 alongside President Petro and members of the president’s family.

The report also vindicates warnings made months earlier by Angie Rodríguez, the former Dapre director who left the government in January 2026 and gave an explosive interview to Semana in April: “She (Juliana Guerrero), without any scruples, has the nerve to go to state entities to give orders, to say what gets contracted, who gets hired and who does not. She and her sister go to the Ministry of Equality and make decisions without being public officials,” Rodríguez said at the time.

The Only Case So Far: Fake Diplomas

Despite the mounting allegations, the only criminal proceeding currently facing Juliana Andrea Guerrero Jiménez is the fake-credentials case that derailed her 2025 nomination as vice minister of youth. The Fiscalía General de la Nación (Office of the Attorney General) has finalized an indictment charging her with procedural fraud and ideological falsehood in a public document, alleging she uploaded fake accounting degrees from the Fundación Universitaria San José — an institution where prosecutors say she never attended class or sat an exam — to the government’s SIGEP II résumé system in order to qualify for the vice ministry. The accusation hearing is set for August 5 at 4:00 p.m. before Bogotá’s 46th Circuit Court, two days before Petro leaves office. The university’s former secretary general, Luis Carlos Gutiérrez Martínez, faces charges of falsehood in a public document in the same proceeding for signing off on the degrees.

Guerrero remains the presidency’s delegate to the university council of the Universidad Popular del Cesar (Popular University of Cesar) and retains a state-funded protection detail from the Unidad Nacional de Protección (National Protection Unit). Prior to the events described in the investigation, her only documented government work was an $11 million COP advisory contract at the Interior Ministry, while Verónica Guerrero held two contracts totaling $19 million COP at Colombia Compra Eficiente (Colombia’s public procurement agency) and one for $11 million COP at the Interior Ministry, according to public procurement records cited by Semana.

The scandal lands in the final two weeks of a presidency already battered by corruption cases — from the UNGRD contracting affair to the illicit-enrichment investigation of former foreign minister Laura Sarabia — and hands incoming president De La Espriella’s attorney general appointees an early test: whether the chats, audios, and bank records now in Semana’s possession become a criminal file.

Who’s Who in the Guerrero Case

• Juliana Guerrero — Cesar-born political operator, former Interior Ministry adviser, and failed nominee for vice minister of youth; described by Semana as the most powerful woman in the Petro government. Accused by three businessmen of selling access to ministry contracts; separately indicted for uploading fake university degrees, with an accusation hearing set for August 5.
• Verónica Guerrero — Juliana’s sister and, per the chats, the network’s day-to-day interlocutor with the paying businessmen. Former contractor at Colombia Compra Eficiente and the Interior Ministry, with no state role during the alleged scheme.
• David Trespalacios — A young Barranquilla man close to the Guerrero family who, according to the report, collected cash and deposits so the sisters could keep money out of their own accounts, before a falling-out changed the arrangement.
• Gustavo Petro — Outgoing president of Colombia, leaving office August 7. The “boss of bosses” invoked in the chats, per the whistleblowers. He says the story shows his government blocked the corruption and that the businessmen were swindled.
• Edward Libreros — Former vice minister of water and basic sanitation, named in the chats as the channel for the Cesar aqueduct project; fired by Petro during a televised council of ministers in October 2025. The chats record the sisters’ claims about him; no response from Libreros appears in the published reports.
• Angie Rodríguez — Former Dapre director and one-time Petro confidante who publicly warned in April 2026 that the sisters were giving hiring and contracting orders inside state entities without holding any public office.
• Armando Benedetti — Interior minister and Juliana Guerrero’s longtime political sponsor, per Colombian press reports; sanctioned by OFAC in October 2025. Carrillo warned that Fonsecon, a fund under Benedetti’s ministry, figures in the allegations.
• Carlos Carrillo — Former UNGRD director who called the published evidence “very serious” and urged the justice system to investigate.
• Elvia Milena Sanjuán and Jorge “Popo” Barros — Governor of Cesar and a Cesar departmental deputy linked to the Gnecco political clan, respectively; the businessmen asked the sisters to broker meetings with both. An audio records Juliana agreeing. Neither is accused of wrongdoing in the report.
• Luis Carlos Gutiérrez Martínez — Former secretary general of the Fundación Universitaria San José, dismissed in late 2025 and charged with falsehood in a public document for certifying Guerrero’s degrees.
• The three businessmen — Unnamed contractors from Norte de Santander, Valle del Cauca, Cesar, and Santander who say they paid more than $600 million COP and received nothing. Petro suggests they were simply defrauded; they remain the case’s key witnesses.

Retail fell to 17.8%, down 3.7% from the previous month. Industrial Confidence improved from -4.1% to -2.2%, with the positivity explained by an increase in production expectations for the next quarter. There were continued concerns about contraband and also Employment prospects fell from 0.7% to -1.7% quarter over quarter.

For its part, Bancolombia reported a fourth consecutive improvement in their weekly consumer data, this time a 3% year over year increase from July 13-19.

Omar Andres Camacho was confirmed as Ministry of Mines and Energy — very much a case of wait and see.

After three weeks President Gustavo Petro finally issued his first decree related to the forthcoming El Niño. It will allow the Housing Ministry to directly contract in La Guajira in order to source more drinking water as well as to help with basic sanitation.

While there were no further bids for Grupo Éxito, it did announce the approval for a Level II listing on the NYSE and also announce a new $125 million USD shopping complex in Cartagena via its Viva real estate division. Meanwhile, Groupe Casino are edging towards a refinancing deal.

On the markets, we saw small but significant advancement with the Colombian peso, which is looking comfortably below $4,000 to the US dollar despite the barrage of reforms heading for Congress. A combination of US data and local realism is likely to keep the currency at these levels.

As for the equity market: still trucking volumes of $10 million USD per day, which in reality are even worse as Ecopetrol and Bancolombia normally account for 40% of that figure. The question is whether the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC) have any plans to change the situation. It looks doubtful from where most people are looking.

There was a $110 million USD bond issue from Terpel, which is always welcome, but the fanfare this received from the BVC only highlighted the almost complete dearth of corporate issuances during 2023.

Monday will see all eyes on the Banco de la República, but it is very doubtful they will touch the 13.25% overnight rate. Next week, we will also have the latest unemployment data from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) — which of late has been trucking very well.

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Unoriginal in that he is the sixth president in six years and one of several to face allegations of corruption. Unique in that he is the first to face an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office while still president and to try an apparent coup d’état to stay in power.

After a tumultuous 24-hour period in which Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree before promptly being removed from office and arrested, he is facing potentially serious charges.

This article by Chris Dalby generously shared by Insight Crime. The original can be read here.

Some of the charges are new, including a count of sedition announced by the Attorney General shortly after his arrest on December 7. Most date to earlier this year when an investigation was first opened into Castillo for criminal organization, influence peddling, and collusion.

This marked the expansion of an inquiry that had seen Castillo’s former minister of transport and communications, Juan Silva Villegas, arrested and six congressmen placed under investigation.

Castillo and Silva Villegas allegedly ran a corrupt network of officials within the Ministry of Transport and Communications (Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones – MTC), which illegally controlled the tender for the construction of the Tarata bridge in northern Peru. This public works contract was apparently given to Peruvian and Chinese companies close to the former president in exchange for bribes.

In parallel, Castillo also faces an investigation into his alleged role in influencing Peru’s state-owned oil company, PetroPerú, into buying biofuel from a petroleum company, Heaven Petroleum Operators. The owner of said company, Samir Abuyadeh, was arrested in November and maintained he met with Castillo twice at Peru’s presidential palace before the deal went through. Castillo has denied this.

Finally, Castillo is alleged to have helped award public works contracts worth $8.6 million from the Ministry of Housing and Construction to contractors connected to his family and friends.

InSight Crime Analysis

Four of Castillo’s direct predecessors all face or have faced charges related to corruption in public works contracts connected to Brazilian giant, Odebrecht. Castillo does not appear to have learned any lessons from this.

Alejandro Toledo, president from 2001 to 2006, stood accused of money laundering and criminal conspiracy for receiving up to $20 million from Brazilian construction giant, Odebrecht for being granted contracts to build sections of Peru’s Southern Interoceanic Highway. He is currently in the United States, but Peru has demanded his extradition. Toledo was the first of four presidents to be accused of corruption related to Odebrecht.

His successor, Alan García, who ruled Peru twice from 1985 to 1990 and 2006 to 2011, committed suicide in 2019 as police came to arrest him for his alleged role in the same Odebrecht scandal. The level of bribery he was reportedly involved in was staggering, having received up to $143 million and used around $29 million to bribe other officials to favor Odebrecht over three different governments.

Former President Ollanta Humala, who governed Peru from 2011 to 2016, is accused of receiving around $3 million from Odebrecht in exchange for granting the firm public works contracts. After a period under house arrest, he was released, but his criminal trial began in early 2022.

Finally, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who governed as president from 2016 to 2018 and had been prime minister under Toledo from 2005 to 2006, was sentenced to three years under house arrest in 2019. He was found to have helped facilitate contracts for Odebrecht to build the Interoceanic Highway and a hydro-energy project in Peru.

Astonishingly, while Castillo has had no connections to the Odebrecht scandal, he appears to have run very similar schemes within government to those which his predecessors were brought down for.

Giving contracts to friends; taking bribes for public works; naming officials who supported his schemes; firing those who noticed the irregularities. For all his electoral bluster about being a political outsider, his reported crimes once in office look to have been as run-of-the-mill as they come.

This article by Chris Dalby generously shared by Insight Crime. The original can be read here.

Photo: Presidencia de Perú (Creative Commons)

The funds will significantly reduce the interest rate of some 77,000 mortgages that officials say will be generated by plan, which was approved by the federal Superior Council of Fiscal Policy (CONFIS) and represents a joint effort between the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit and the Ministry of Housing.

The program, which launches on February 12, will overlap with the already-established Social Interest Housing (VIS) and Priority Interest Housing (VIP) programs of the the National Housing Fund (Fonvivienda), as well as “Mi Casa Ya” program for low-income Colombians.

The subsidies will be in effect for at least seven years, providing coverage of 5 percentage points of the interest rate for those in the VIP category, 4 points for VIS, and 2.5 points for mortgages held by those whose annual income exceeds the threshold of 135 monthly minimum wages, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The ministry does note, however, that those applying under non-VIS status may not be eligible if they to have previously benefited from other governmental housing programs.

More than helping put more people in new homes, Finance Minister Mauricio Cárdenas stated that this spending initiative will be a boon to the overall economy. “We estimate that, on average, with this 1.2 trillion pesos for housing programs, we will stimulate economic activity in the order of 6 trillion,” said Cárdenas.

Housing Minister Camilo Sánchez added that housing is a vital area that can kickstart employment in “more than 30 sectors” of the economy. Overall, he stated that housing has generated at least 3.2 million jobs in Colombia and that this new plan will directly create some 35,000 jobs. “Today is a very important day for the national economy,” said Sánchez while introducing the plan.

Resources for the program will be distributed through the Banco de la República-administered Reserve Fund for the Stabilization of the Mortgage Portfolio (FRECH).

(Photo credit: Minvivienda)

“It’s important to note that this increase will not take effect in leases immediately, rather upon the anniversary renewal date of renters’ leases,” said Guillermo Herrera Castaño, vice minister of the housing ministry.

According to article 20 of Colombia’s law 820 of 2003, the maximum increase in rent may not exceed “the cumulative change in the consumer price index in the immediate preceeding calendar year, not exceeding 1% of the value of the property.” Leases on the books before July 10, 2003 may not increase by more than 3%, corresponding to the target inflation rate set by the Colombian Central Bank (Banco de la República).

Headline Photo of Guillermo Herrera Castaño courtesy Minvivienda – Credit: René Valenzuela. MVCT.