BOGOTA.- The leadership of the Attorney General’s Office of Colombia was left in the hands of Martha Janeth Mancera, the number two of Francisco Barbosa, who left office on Monday at the end of his term and amid tensions with President Gustavo Petro.
Barbosa was replaced by Deputy Prosecutor Martha Janeth Mancera, until now his right hand, who remains as the new attorney general in charge. It is up to the Supreme Court of Justice to choose the new head of the Public Ministry from a shortlist of women proposed by Petro, in a selection process with questions.
The process began last December and does not have a fixed date to complete. The next vote is expected to be on February 22.
“I assume this role out of loyalty to my duties as a justice official, but aware that an extended stay in the direction of the investigating and prosecuting entity is not desirable for optimal progress,” Mancera said in a statement.
The deputy prosecutor replaced Francisco Barbosa after completing her four-year period as attorney general on Monday. However, she faces questions after being accused by local media of allegedly trying to cover up a former official of the entity who would be linked to drug trafficking and arms trafficking.
Mancera has denied this and has said that it is a smear campaign against him. Petro maintains a confrontation with the Prosecutor’s Office over the investigations against Nicolás Petro, the president’s son, accused of corruption.
Colombian legislation stipulates that it is the responsibility of the deputy prosecutor to replace the attorney general in temporary absences and that the re-election of the prosecutor is not permitted.
Tensions
But tension surrounds a new appointment. Last week the Court reported that none of the three candidates for prosecutor achieved the majority of the required votes, leaving Barbosa’s replacement pending. In response, a group of government supporters blocked access to the Palace of Justice, headquarters of the Court, while protests took place in the street called by unions calling for the election of a new prosecutor.
The president of the Court, Gerson Chaverra, denounced that they were besieged in a “violent and illegal blockade” and demanded that the national government provide the necessary guarantees to choose in independence. “Democracy is left in suspense” when any sector or actor “attempts to put political, physical or moral pressure on the decisions of justice,” the magistrate added.
Petro acknowledged flaws in the security protocol to protect the Court, but indicated that there was no violence on the part of a small group that tried to violate a door for a few seconds, whom he called “infiltrators.”
“I know that there were flaws in the security protocol that should have been deployed in the Palace of Justice preventively and from the Nariño palace we corrected them,” the president admitted.
Investigations against Petro
The figure of the prosecutor has aroused special interest in the country after Petro denounced that the entity until now commanded by Barbosa would be putting pressure on him to remove him from office and urged his supporters to take to the streets, in the face of what he called an “institutional rupture.”
The Prosecutor’s Office is carrying out processes that involve the president’s familyone of his sons was accused and called to trial for alleged crimes of money laundering and illicit enrichment, and is investigating whether there were irregularities in the financing of the electoral campaign with which Petro won victory in 2022.
For Petro, in the Prosecutor’s Office there are “mafias” that have interests in preventing the new candidates from arriving, whom he described as “decent women” who would not allow more “impunity.”
Mancera’s continuity does not generate confidence for the former M19 guerrilla who governs Colombia. A day after the protests, he highlighted from his X account that the press has pointed out “serious accusations” against him.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged the Colombian Supreme Court on Tuesday to complete the selection process for the new prosecutor and warned in a statement that the lack of designation of a titular person could weaken the justice system, by affecting the independence and autonomy of the entity.
Source: With information from AP
