Former attorney general Francisco Barbosa said on Saturday 3 October 2026 that Colombia’s intelligence agencies spied on him while he led the prosecution service. He alleged the surveillance reached a senior judicial official and prosecutors investigating people close to former president Gustavo Petro.
The Allegations
Barbosa said wiretaps, physical surveillance and searches of state databases targeted him during his term, from February 2020 to February 2024. He called the alleged operations one of the gravest attacks on judicial independence in Colombia’s recent history.
According to La Opinión, Barbosa alleges that the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) and the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF) took part in surveillance meant to intimidate prosecutors investigating people close to Petro. The UIAF tracks suspicious money flows for the Finance Ministry. Barbosa’s former deputy, Martha Mancera, was allegedly watched, too.
Barbosa said he’ll file a criminal complaint on Monday 5 October. He wants the Fiscalía, the office he once ran, to investigate whoever ordered, carried out or covered up the operations. “So that time does not erase the criminal traces,” he said, according to Infobae.
He has asked the DNI and UIAF to hand over and preserve documents, work orders and records concerning him. The Fiscalía must decide whether and how to investigate once the complaint arrives. The agencies must respond to the records requests.
Audit and Agency Records
The allegations follow a forensic audit of the DNI ordered by President Abelardo de la Espriella. The right-wing lawyer took office in August, and Semana published the audit findings on Saturday. Auditors collected 147 terabytes of data, 40 computers and five phones or tablets, according to the magazine.
The audit classified more than 100 DNI staff members as a critical or high security risk. Semana wrote that the agency became “a kind of political police” under Petro. The magazine also questioned a drone purchased for COP 9 billion, about US$2.7 million, that crashed in the Catatumbo region. Petro received weekly intelligence reports, Semana reported.
A UIAF source told Semana that anyone who “smells of uribismo,” the movement of former president Álvaro Uribe, was watched. Semana’s list of alleged targets included former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque, former Inspector General Margarita Cabello and former Comptroller Carlos Felipe Córdoba. It also named right-wing politicians María Fernanda Cabal and Paloma Valencia, along with retired generals Eduardo Zapateiro and Luis Fernando Navarro. La FM reported a similar list on Saturday.
Unresolved Claims
Petro’s political opponent commissioned the audit. Its findings remain allegations; no court has ruled on them, and everyone named is presumed innocent. No one has been charged in the case.
Reports published Saturday carried no response from Petro or from the five men who ran the DNI under him. The DNI had earlier rejected accusations from de la Espriella and asked for evidence, Semana noted.
The DNI began in 2011, replacing the DAS, which authorities dissolved after it spied on Supreme Court judges, journalists and opposition figures. That scandal, known locally as the “chuzadas” or wiretaps, hit the government of Álvaro Uribe. Barbosa’s complaint is due Monday 5 October. Investigators must establish whether the alleged surveillance occurred and who, if anyone, directed it.