Former Minister Luis Carlos Reyes: "I followed his instructions. I don't understand why the president views these corruption allegations as personal attacks."

Former DIAN director and former minister Luis Carlos Reyes , in an interview with EL TIEMPO, announced that he will sue President Gustavo Petro for libel and slander, after accusing him of linking him to the genocide in Gaza. Reyes, who is preparing a presidential candidacy, stated that he had already warned Petro about the UNGRD scandal and defended his management at DIAN, noting that 2023 and 2024 saw the highest levels of tax collection in the country's history.

The president's accusation makes no sense. He claims I supposedly slipped a monkey into a decree that was reviewed by the legal secretariats of the Presidency, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Mines, and also the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce. Dr. Cielo Rusinque, who is such a loyal pawn of the president, had the opportunity to thoroughly review every part of that decree before the president signed it, and the president himself signed the documents for her.

Things were added to that decree that went against our goal of making these sanctions on coal exports to Israel as weighty as possible; the president removed that. And to come out and say that, in the process of issuing a decree, which is so rigorous and meticulous, someone—I or anyone—could have slipped in something like what he's saying is far-fetched for anyone familiar with the process of issuing a decree.

There's no substance to it, but the president is saying something extremely infuriating: linking me to the genocide in Gaza, which I myself have condemned, to the point of engaging in a public confrontation with the then Israeli ambassador to Colombia before diplomatic relations were severed.

Yes. There's already an issue of damage to my good name in light of what the president is saying, and that's why I'm filing this complaint for libel and slander. It bothers me greatly that the truth is being ignored in such a sensitive matter, even though I value the political project the president promoted.

And the president is doing all of this, I think, according to what he's expressed in private meetings, in opposition to this presidential candidacy we're proposing. The president wants to align all the sympathetic groups behind a project of social transformation behind whoever he chooses as his successor, and it doesn't seem to me that he's very interested in a truly broad debate about what comes next. That angers him, and that's how he expresses his anger.

In government, what I did was what the president asked me to do. He was very clear that I had to denounce corruption and smuggling, and keep him informed of what was happening. And that's what I did. I denounced the attempts by smuggling interests to infiltrate the DIAN through the Congress of the Republic.

I denounced the handout of contracts at the Ministry of Finance, the famous indicative quotas for which former Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla, other former ministers, and high-ranking officials are currently being investigated. That was what President Petro asked me to do, that was what I always did: I took this to the Attorney General's Office, to the Supreme Court of Justice, both as a director and as a minister. In this, I was very consistent with what they asked of me, with the oath I took to defend the Constitution and the laws, and therefore I am surprised that the president sees this as some kind of aggression or disloyalty.

I haven't done anything other than follow the instructions given to me by the president , which I personally agreed with; otherwise, I wouldn't have done it. And now I don't understand why he sees these allegations of corruption as personal attacks against him or his government program.

The Supreme Court investigation continues to advance. On Friday, I testified before the Supreme Court in this case, which involves multiple members of Congress. Particularly prominent are the cases of Roy Barreras, who wanted to provide me with resumes for the customs offices in Buenaventura and Cali, where a key smuggling corridor for this criminal economy is controlled.

One of those Roy Barreras resumes was later found in a raid on Papa Smurf's house. And, after I left the DIAN (National Institute of Criminal Investigation), this person whose resume was found at that criminal's house was appointed, even after all this became known, to the Buenaventura Tax and Customs Office. That, in my opinion, must be leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the Court, which will obviously determine the final outcome.

There has also been much talk about the case of Senator Jairo Castellanos, who engaged in similar activities and is currently the chairman of the Senate's Third Committee. In other words, the person who chairs the committee that will determine what type of tax reform or general national budget will be debated in plenary session was the same person who was blocking the 2022 tax reform process unless the Cúcuta customs office was handed over to him. This is very worrying.

Then we wonder why there isn't enough money, why revenue collection is insufficient, or why evasion and smuggling undermine revenue collection. Well, we have those involved in these acts presiding over key committees in Congress.

I think it certainly created a stir among those who had intentions of entering into clientelist dealings with Congress to gain traction with the DIAN. I don't quite understand what motivated the president, after supporting the halting of these figures' entry, to now appoint some of those seeking those positions at the DIAN to prominent positions within the national government, including not only Roy Barreras, but also Armando Benedetti and Mr. Alfredo Saade. Furthermore, a series of anti-smuggling measures we had initiated were reversed, and it's not clear to me why the president made that decision.

In December 2023, when I was director of the Dian (National Institute of National Statistics), I became aware of a series of indications indicating that the Ministry of Finance was distributing indicative quotas, that is, handing out contracts to members of Congress, in the same way it had been doing for decades—exactly what this administration had set out to eliminate. I mentioned this to the president at a cabinet meeting. He always expressed outrage.

In that cabinet were people who turned out to be the main subjects of investigation in that scandal: former Minister Bonilla, former Minister of the Interior Luis Fernando Velasco, Carlos Ramón González, the director of the UNGRD (National University of Granada), the director of the Civil Service, César, and Enrique. And well, I made those accusations in front of all of them. At this point, the justice system has already issued arrest warrants against several, and some will likely be charged soon. Of course, upon hearing this, the president surely thought he needed more clues, more evidence. The truth is that they're there now, and it's important that the justice system make decisive decisions.

Well, this survey, which people can fill out at MrTaxes.co, aims to be a way to hear people's responses to these questions: whether they think a presidential candidacy is appropriate, and if so, what they think is key for us to make a central element of that candidacy. Whether they would be willing to support the collection of signatures, etc. This is a time to first listen to what people want before making a decision and making proposals.

A candidacy based on signatures is an option, without ruling out the possibility of later joining a party or legal entity. What comes next? Well, these are clearly decisions that will be made in due course. What is clear—and I believe this is the reason the president is upset —is that this would not be within the internal consultation process of the Historic Pact, because I think there are no guarantees for a fair consultation, and therefore we would not be part of that process.

In terms of logistics, it's perfectly achievable, but it depends on the willingness of citizens, who are the ones who choose whether or not to sign. It's really something that begins or ends with the consent of the public. Logistically, we're on time, but we're confident that if what we're going to do is worthwhile, people will support it.

The truth is, there was a massive smear campaign from the Ministry of Finance. After denouncing Bonilla for distributing indicative quotas, the Ministry of Finance began circulating completely false claims.

The years 2023 and 2024, the years of my tenure as director of the Dian, are to date the two years with the highest revenue collection in Colombia's history, so it makes no sense to talk about a drop in revenue collection during that administration. It is true that the Ministry of Finance itself promoted the overprojection of revenue collection targets, an overprojection that did not come from the Dian; on the contrary, the Dian opposed that overprojection. So much so that in the 2024 financial plan, CONFIS sought an opportunity when I would not be present as director of the Dian to vote on a financial plan that I had already said I would not approve. All of this was part of a series of strategies to try to put aside the accusations I had been making since December 2023.

Maria Alejandra Gonzalez Duarte