Petro Accused of Exploiting 48 Women at Presidential Parties

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.” The allegations have intensified scrutiny of the former leftist leader, whose tenure was marked by frequent clashes with Washington over drug policy and immigration.

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. DAPRE manages the administrative and logistical operations of the executive branch from the Casa de Nariño, Colombia’s presidential palace in Bogotá.

“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.

The explosive testimony arrives as Colombian lawmakers seek the suspension of Petro over alleged meddling in upcoming elections, adding to a series of political crises surrounding his administration.

The Casa de Nariño, the presidential palace, in Bogotá, Colombia, on Dec. 17, 2025. (Nathalia Angarita/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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. During his presidency, Petro championed social welfare initiatives aimed at marginalized communities, including efforts to support female heads of households and those transitioning out of sex work.

These denials come amid a pivotal election cycle where Trump-backed candidates look to crush cartels and end Colombia’s socialist era.

“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. Before entering mainstream politics, Petro was a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement in the 1980s, a period he has previously cited as formative before his transition to democratic politics.

“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 such as 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.