The government of Gustavo Petro announced on Monday Milton Rengifo Hernández as the new Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, replacing Armando Benedetti, who left office amid a scandal over leaked conversations.

The information was confirmed by the Colombian Foreign Ministry through a statement, which details that the Venezuelan government granted “approval for the appointment of Mr. Milton Rengifo Hernández as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Colombia in the neighboring country.”

Rengifo Hernández worked with Petro during his time as a congressman, as well as during his career as head of the Bogotá Mayor’s Office, where he served as Undersecretary of Environment and Local Affairs.

«With President Petro you can have differences, and criticize him in various facets, but in matters of transparency he is blameless, vertical. I was in his UTL (Legislative Work Unit) 1998-2010 and I saw him, angry, take a lobbyist out of the office who came in to offer money,” Rengifo said through the social network Twitter.

Last Friday, Petro announced the withdrawal of the government’s chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, as well as Armando Benedetti, after both were involved in a scandal of wiretapping and possible abuse of power.

The scandal spread this Sunday night, after Semana magazine published some audios that Benedetti sent to Sarabia, in which he threatened to reveal secrets about the financing of Petro’s presidential campaign.

In response to the scandal, the President of Colombia assured that he did not receive money from drug trafficking during his campaign and that the Colombian government has not done anything illegal.

Taken from DobleLlave

(Reference image source: Final Version Newspaper, via web)

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