Laura Sarabia, the number two Gustavo Petro, was hospitalized on Thursday night in a medical center in Bogotá. The president announced the news this Friday and assured that she had been treated “in intensive care.” However, the renowned Clínica del Country published a statement shortly after reporting that Sarabia is “stable” and that her health “does not compromise her life.” “The medical staff has been working diligently to ensure the well-being of the patient and provide quality medical care,” the institution added.
Sarabia faces the most difficult week of his life. Not even the scandal a year ago over the polygraph that the nanny of her newborn son was subjected to for the loss of a briefcase with money in her house had affected her so much. For a few months, an apocryphal report from the military forces had been circulating on WhatsApp stating that Andrés Sarabia, the brother, had enriched himself by collecting commissions in exchange for placing people in government positions and mediating in obtaining public contracts. Seven days ago a young communicator made a video in which he reported the existence of this document and several journalists joined in on the questions that arise in this matter. For now, no conclusive evidence has been provided to support these claims, but the noise generated around the case has been enormous.
Petro has charged against the journalists who echoed these suspicions after announcing Sarabia’s hospitalization: “(His closest advisor) has suffered a violent attack via network networks that the press has made official, turning them into uninvestigated news. They have attacked his brother, who lives in a 70 square meter apartment. He has been accused of practically enriching himself, in quotes. How can a person who lives in 70 square meters get rich?” This closed defense of the president has surprised because neither with his son Nicolás nor with his brother Juan Fernando, one prosecuted and the other investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office, was he so forceful.
The president did not speak out during the first days of accusations against Sarabia’s entourage, he remained silent. However, this is the second day he has defended her and the first time he has done so with her brother. “Supposedly (he has become rich) because of his relative’s closeness to the highest circles of the Government. Unfounded criticism. I am not interested in personal enrichment, I do not have a farm or a car. The only thing I have achieved is a house for my children, who no longer live there, for which I still pay the high bank installments and I am stuck,” he said during an event in Soacha. His statement that he was having trouble making ends meet provoked laughter among the audience.
Sarabia met Petro because she was the secretary of Armando Benedetti, a traditional politician and his campaign manager. After winning the elections, she sent Benedetti as ambassador to Venezuela to work on reestablishing relations with Chavismo. She did not want to have him in her closest circle because she was dragging on several judicial processes that had not yet been judged. Sarabia, on the other hand, wanted her on the third floor of the Casa de Nariño, the presidential residence, and since then she has been his right-hand man – that radically separated Sarabia and Benedetti, who would end up embroiled in a personal war that transcended the private sphere―. Sarabia began with agenda and logistical tasks, but little by little he has gained political weight and negotiates the president’s most important issues. According to sources close to Petro, the president has no intention of dismissing her unless compelling information emerges about some type of corruption on her part.
Sarabia only came into Petro’s life four years ago and in that time she has become his most trusted person, personally and politically. This closeness with the president has generated discomfort among the Petristas, the people who have accompanied Petro since his time as mayor of Bogotá. They consider her a newcomer who has not earned that space. These groups continually send messages to Petro asking him to separate her, but so far they have not been able to do so. There is a suspicion even from the president himself that it is these close factions that are acting against Sarabia in the shadows.
Newsletter
The analysis of current events and the best stories from Colombia, every week in your mailbox
RECEIVE THE
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS newsletter on Colombia and here to the channel on WhatsAppand receive all the latest news from the country.
