Former Colombian President Gustavo Petro is facing allegations that 48 women were recruited and exploited for presidential parties, with officials claiming they were hired “simply to be with President Petro.”
Carlos Andrés Ríos, head of Colombia’s Administrative Department of the Presidency, or DAPRE, alleged that Petro presided over a system that “systematically” controlled and used the women through government service contracts. According to Ríos, public funds were used to provide salaries in exchange for intimate relationships.
“We are going to show the Colombian people how the Casa de Nariño was unfortunately designed, organized and adapted for something entirely different — not to govern, but to hold parties there every day and bring in women,” Ríos said during a congressional hearing last week.
Former President Gustavo Petro denied allegations that women were recruited to attend presidential parties and provide sexual favors. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
In a statement posted Sunday, Petro denied using his office to obtain sexual relations.
“I have never awarded a contract in exchange for sexual relations. I would be disgusted with myself if I had ever done such a thing,” Petro wrote on X.
Petro said his administration had created publicly funded assistance programs for vulnerable women, but insisted those initiatives were entirely different from offering government contracts in return for sexual favors.
The Casa de Nariño, Colombia’s presidential palace, in Bogotá on Dec. 17, 2025. (Nathalia Angarita/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Supporting poor women, female heads of household and people engaged in sex work so they can pursue different opportunities — as I have shown through concrete, funded public programs — is completely different from handing out contracts in exchange for sexual relations,” he said. “No one who has taken part in those public programs will ever be able to claim that I did anything of the kind.”
Petro also acknowledged that he had occasionally visited places where sex work took place when he was young. He said he regretted those experiences and had not returned to such establishments for decades.
“When I was very young, I sometimes visited places where sex work was practiced. Paying for sex felt degrading to me, and I could see the sadness of the men and women who went there. That is why I stopped visiting those places decades ago,” he said.
The allegations emerge as Petro faces wider criticism over claims involving the alleged misuse of public money, the depletion of national budgets and drug trafficking.
Petro has rejected the accusations, describing them as politically driven 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 clashed publicly amid a series of accusations and escalating disputes. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images; Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“After trying to label me corrupt and a drug trafficker — an effort promoted by people such as Abelardo de la Espriella and Donald Trump — they have failed to provide a single piece of evidence of corruption or drug trafficking,” Petro said. “I have never stolen one peso from the public treasury, and for more than two decades I have fought drug traffickers while exposing their political connections.”
News Outlet contacted the White House seeking comment.
