This was revealed by White House officials, according to the Colombian ambassador in Washington, Daniel García-Peña, who added that the US government had acted behind the back of former president Iván Duque (2018-2022).
The incident was described as serious by the current head of state, Gustavo Petro, who, after the United States claimed to be involved, considered that Colombia’s sovereignty had been violated.
‘Cyber defence is not the same as spying. And we have to draw a line here. It is not the same thing to have software to hunt down gangsters as to do it without a warrant. Unless the 91 Constitution is useless,’ he said. He pointed out that the use of such a programme is an attack on self-determination, respect for legality and the autonomy of Colombian institutions, and assured that intense and complex discussions on the subject are to be held, the focus of which will be the defence of the people.
On September 4, President Petro denounced the purchase of Pegasus from the Israeli company NSO Group Technologies Limited.
He revealed that this took place between June and September 2021, when the country was going through a social upheaval, and shortly before the campaigns for both Congress and presidential consultations took place in October.
He also detailed that the payment was made in two parts and in cash.
The first, of five million 500 thousand dollars, was flown from Bogotá to Israel on June 2021 and deposited in the company’s account on 30 June 2021, and the second, of the same amount, was made on 22 September.
Subsequently, it showed evidence related to documents that prove the irregular entry and exit of four Israeli citizens to the South American nation on two flights, bound for Tel Aviv, and whose trips would be associated with the Pegasus transaction.
The most recent development in the case is the US admission that it paid for the acquisition of the software to allegedly keep tabs on drug traffickers.
According to information provided to Colombia’s ambassador in Washington, the programme was never handed over to the Colombian authorities, and their role was limited to providing data on those they considered should be intercepted.
The diplomat explained that, in his meeting with US authorities, ‘we were vehement in demanding total transparency and the publication of the information that may have been collected in the 15 or 18 months that the software was operational’.
Garcia-Peña commented that many questions remain.
jrr/car/ifs
