LatinNews Daily - 18 July 2024

*Colombian television news programme Noticias Caracol has reported that it has seen messages implicating Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla in a corruption scandal that hit the government’s disaster risk management unit (UNGRD) in May. Noticias Caracol reported yesterday that it has had access to the communications which resulted in the arrest of former UNGRD director Sneyder Pinilla, who is accused of diverting funding from his department to pay bribes to legislators in order to win their support for President Gustavo Petro’s reform agenda. The news programme alleges that Bonilla pressured Pinilla to award three contracts worth over Col$92bn (US$23m) in the departments of Arauca, Córdoba, and Bolívar. According to Noticias Caracol, these contracts benefitted deputies Wadith Manzur, of the centre-right Partido Conservador (PC); Julián Peinado, of the centre-left Partido Liberal (PL); Juan Diego Muñoz, of the centrist Alianza Verde (AV); Karen Manrique, who holds one of the 16 'peace seats' (CITREP) introduced to the lower chamber in 2022 to represent victims of the internal conflict; Senator Juan Pablo Gallo (PL); and Senator Liliana Bitar (PC).