Colombia names attorney general amid political unrest under Gustavo Petro
Al Jazeera
Luz Adriana Camargo Garzon will lead probes into President Petro and his son after weeks of delay in the appointment process.
Colombia’s Supreme Court of Justice has chosen Luz Adriana Camargo Garzon as the country’s new attorney general, amid ongoing turmoil for the government of President Gustavo Petro.
Camargo was a former judge who worked for the attorney general’s office for 12 years, starting in the 1990s. She was also a prosecutor assigned to the Supreme Court of Justice, where she investigated ties between legislators and right-wing paramilitary groups.
She is set to direct several delicate investigations, including a probe into accusations of illegal financing in Petro’s 2022 presidential campaign.
The attorney general’s office is also in the midst of prosecuting Petro’s eldest son Nicolas, a former provincial legislator, for alleged corruption and money laundering, as part of an investigation that began more than a year ago.
“With 18 votes, Luz Adriana Camargo Garzon was elected as the country’s new attorney general,” Gerson Chaverra, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, told journalists on Tuesday. A total of 23 judges were eligible to vote.
