BOGOTÁ — Former Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva says he delivered a package of documents to the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá connected to criminal complaints he has filed in the United States against former President Gustavo Petro.
It is the latest move in a feud between the two men who once worked together in the government in Bogotá.
What Leyva Says He Delivered
Leyva announced the delivery on Tuesday, posting a photo of a communication stamped as received by the embassy. He says the embassy received it on October 9, through chargé d’affaires Hugo Guevara.
The letter is addressed to Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella and U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. He says he first wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on September 15 to announce that he would send the material.
According to Leyva, the file includes copies of his earlier filings before U.S. Justice Department bodies and the names of what he calls “qualified witnesses.” He has not identified the witnesses or described what they would say. Leyva wrote that the seriousness of the alleged crimes warrants “prompt and complete justice,” but has not specified in public which offenses he now alleges.
Earlier Complaints
Leyva’s U.S. filings date to 2025. On September 25 of that year, he sent a criminal complaint to then-U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi against Petro and Juan Diego Quesada, a journalist for Spain’s El País.
The complaint followed El País reporting that tied Leyva to an effort to find support in Washington to remove Petro. Leyva denied that account, saying recordings used in the reporting had been edited and citing a forensic report that found the audio “is not original and has been edited.” He argued that Petro used the material to promote a false narrative of a plot, and he suggested U.S. offenses including conspiracy and false statements.
He later filed a second complaint over a speech Petro gave on a New York street after addressing the U.N. General Assembly. Petro reportedly urged U.S. soldiers to “disobey” President Donald Trump, and Leyva cited federal statutes covering sedition and inciting revolt in the armed forces. Reports differ on when that complaint was sent, either September 25 or October 9, 2025.
A Feud With a History
Leyva served as Petro’s foreign minister before they fell out, and he has since become one of the former president’s most persistent critics.
In July 2025, Petro filed his own criminal complaint against Leyva, accusing him of treason over the alleged plot. Leyva also faces separate proceedings in Colombia tied to a passport contract.
The stamped receipt confirms only that the embassy received a communication. It does not show that U.S. authorities have reviewed the material, accepted a complaint or opened an investigation.
Leyva has not released any official U.S. document confirming a case file or a request for information. The embassy has not commented, and Petro and his representatives have not responded to the reports reviewed.
The delivery comes as Petro, no longer in office since August, faces a hostile climate in Colombia under De la Espriella’s government, and as Washington has been taking an aggressive posture toward leaders it accuses of misconduct across the region.
Leyva appears to be betting that a new government in Bogotá and the Trump administration will give his complaints a hearing that they did not get while Petro was in power.
