Secret recordings unite Colombian politicians against attempt to overthrow President Petro

The audio recordings revealed by EL PAÍS, in which former Colombian foreign minister Álvaro Leyva speaks of bringing down President Gustavo Petro in “no more than 20 days,” have sparked a wave of indignation across the country’s entire political class. In a gesture of democratic maturity, politicians of all stripes have unanimously rejected the plan that Leyva meant to carry out with the help of the United States.

Leyva, 82, met two months ago in the U.S. with advisors close to the Donald Trump administration in order to drum up support for the plan. According to the recordings as well as sources close to Republican congressmembers, Leyva tried to get close to State Secretary Marco Rubio to get him to exert “international pressure” in a bid to oust Petro. The White House, according to these same sources, never even considered the proposal.

“He told us he had all the tools needed to execute the plan and eject [Petro]. He would be replaced by [vice president] Francia Márquez. He had evidence that Petro could no longer hold office and that, if this went ahead, the president would be unable to hit back. It was very important to get help from the Americans,” said one individual who met in April with Leyva.

The presidential hopefuls for 2026 Vicky Dávila, Luis Gilberto Murillo, Susana Muhamad and Juan Manuel Galán, as well as historical heavyweights of Colombian politics such as former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) and former vice-president Humberto de la Calle (1994-1997), have demanded explanations from Leyva, who has yet to make any public statements. This newspaper has tried unsuccessfully to obtain his version of events, both before and after the release of the audios.

The recordings suggest time periods that are impossible to meet if the goal is to remove the president in a constitutional manner. In Colombia’s highly protective system, an impeachment trial can be initiated with an accusation from the House of Representatives, which would be in charge of the investigation and pass the case on to the Senate, the body that would act as judge. The process can drag on for months or even years, as was the case with the process against former president Ernesto Samper (1994-1998), which finally came to nothing.

Vicky Dávila was one of the first people to distance herself from the case after Leyva is heard saying in one of the recordings that he was considering consulting her about joining the effort to overthrow Petro. “I have nothing to do with these ideas of former Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva that EL PAÍS mentions. I don’t agree with overthrowing Petro; I’ve always said so, both publicly and privately. I don’t understand why Leyva is using my name as a supposedly ‘valid interlocutor,’ in his own mind, to attract politicians in Colombia and the United States,” she wrote on social media.

Leyva also mentions Miguel Uribe Turbay, the young politician who is fighting for his life in a hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt. Former President Álvaro Uribe (no relation) has asked for an explanation: “Our presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay is a democrat through and through, a fighter with ideas and arguments, an honest and genuine person, not a coup plotter. We hope Dr. Álvaro Leyva will clarify this. The same goes for our independent candidate Vicky Dávila, whose character and honesty deserve the respect of all Colombians.”

There have been numerous displays of support for democracy, despite the fact that the country is experiencing significant polarization, to which Petro himself contributes. Humberto de la Calle, a respected politician who was the government’s chief negotiator in the peace process with the FARC guerrilla, in which Leyva also participated, condemned the contents of the recordings: “The revelations reported by EL PAÍS about Álvaro Leyva’s operations to overthrow President Petro are very serious. They must be rejected. Criticism is one thing, conspiracy is another. Gustavo Petro’s term is untouchable.”

President Petro has been talking about a coup attempt almost since he came to power, and he has repeatedly maintained that there are people who want to kill him. Many of these alleged attempts have not been proven; many people thought the president was playing the victim, but after listening to the audio recordings in his office, the president feels that some of his intuitions had been proven right. “Leyva has betrayed me in the worst way,” he told this newspaper.

At a time of heightened tension, with Petro seeking to push through a constituent assembly with a symbolic ballot, which many jurists and opponents consider illegal, Colombian institutions have closed ranks around the need to respect the constitutional order. Leyva’s idea, according to the audio recordings, was to replace Petro with Francia Márquez, the vice president, who has also denied any involvement in the plot.

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