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Colombian banks have rejected allegations by Gustavo Petro, former mayor of Bogota and leading candidate in the looming presidential elections, that the financial sector is taking political sides and undermining democracy.
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The president of Colombia's bank association, Santiago Castro, said Friday that he is not aware of the details of Petro's accusation, and asked whether Petro had solved the freezing of his bank accounts ordered by a regulatory body almost two years ago.
"That situation constitutes an obstacle for him and any Colombian, but have absolute certainty that banks don't take sides," Castro said. "We have to see what is Petro's case."
In 2016, a decision was made by the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce to freeze Petro's personal account for changing the cleaning industry in Bogota from private to public while he was mayor.
Petro dismissed the allegations, saying it was retaliation for taking business away from the Rios family, which owned the private company previously in charge of cleaning in Bogota.
"Before the minister criticizes what Bogota does, he should tell Colombia what is the percentage the Rios family – which finances their political boss, the country's vice-president – has in the privatization of cleaning in Colombia," Petro said in a public statement in October 2016.
Informo que todos los bancos a los que se les ha pedido préstamos con cargo a la reposición de votos los han negado, y que ni siquiera ha sido posible abrir la cuenta de campaña que exige la ley. La banca privada de Colombia ha tomado partido y la democracia se deshace.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 23, 2018
"All the banks we have requested loans from... have denied them, and we haven't even been able to open a savings account for the campaign, which the law demands. Colombia's private banking sector has taken sides and democracy comes undone," Petro said.
Friday's tweet was published a day after the results of a new poll were released. The poll places Petro in first place, with 22 percent of vote intention, followed by Sergio Fajardo with 16 percent and, in third place, Ivan Duque, former President Alvaro Uribe’s candidate, with 15 percent.
Petro, a progressive candidate, has also denounced attacks by Colombia's media, including an allegation that Petro had a cellar filled with 300 community managers working on his campaign.
The accusation, made by university professor Rodolfo Correa, was repeated by many news outlets. After Petro denied the claims and warned Correa that defamation has legal consequences, his followers turned it into a joke.
Using the hashtag #LaBodegadePetro (#Petro'sCellar), his followers claimed there was no toilet paper left in the cellar; that in Petro's cellar they got paid overtime, and Petro himself tweeted that 'at 12:30 you can come to claim your lunch.'"
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