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Former Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been accused of trapping and exploiting 48 women for presidential parties, with officials alleging they were hired “just to be with President Petro.”
Carlos Andrés Ríos, director of Colombia’s Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE), claimed Petro oversaw a system that used service contracts to “systematically” control and weaponize the women, channeling public salaries in exchange for intimate relationships.
“We are going to prove to the Colombian people how the Casa de Nariño was unfortunately set up, organized, and tailored for something completely different — not to govern, but to party there every single day, bring in women,” Rios said during a congressional hearing last week.
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Former President Gustavo Petro rejected claims that women were hired to attend presidential parties and provide sexual favors. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
Petro issued a statement Sunday denying that he had used his public office to obtain sex.
“I have never given out a contract in exchange for sexual relations. I would vomit on myself if I ever did such a thing,” Petro said in a post on X.
He argued that while his office provided state-funded aid programs for vulnerable women, he claimed that it is fundamentally different from giving contracts to individuals in exchange for sexual favors.
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The Casa de Nariño, the presidential palace, is seen in Bogotá, Colombia, on Dec. 17, 2025. (Nathalia Angarita/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Helping poor women, female heads of households, and those engaged in sex work so that they have different life options — as I have demonstrated in public administration through concrete and funded programs — is something very different from giving out contracts in exchange for sexual relations. No person who has participated in those public programs will ever be able to say that I have done anything of the sort,” he said.
Petro also acknowledged in the statement that he had occasionally visited establishments where sex work took place when he was young, saying he regretted the experiences and had stopped visiting such places decades ago.
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“When I was very young, I occasionally visited places where sex work was practiced. There, I experienced that paying for sex felt dirty to me, and I perceived the sadness of the men and women who attended those places. That is why I stopped visiting them decades ago,” he said.
The accusations come amid broader criticism of Petro over alleged misuse of public funds, depletion of national budgets and drug trafficking.
Petro has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated attacks by figures including President Donald Trump and Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella.
President Donald Trump and former Colombian President Gustavo Petro have previously escalated tensions amid a series of accusations and public disputes. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images; Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“After attempting to portray me as corrupt and a drug trafficker — an intention expressed by people like Abelardo de la Espriella and Donald Trump, without being able to present a single piece of evidence of corruption or drug trafficking, because I have never stolen a single peso from the public treasury and I have fought for over two decades against drug traffickers, exposing their political ties,” Petro said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.