Espionage: Washington bought Pegasus spyware for Colombia

The United States financed the purchase of Israeli spy software Pegasus for Colombian security forces in 2020, without informing then-President Ivan Duque (2018-2022), a senior American official said on Friday.

Confirming information from the Colombian daily “El Tiempo”, the manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, assured that the software was used only in the fight against drug traffickers and denied any other use or illicit financing.

He said Washington had “no information” to suggest the software had been used to monitor Colombian political figures and stressed that the United States had “strict protocols” in place on the use of the software. purchased by the Colombians from its Israeli manufacturer NSO Group with American funds.

Stopping in 2022

Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced, in September, the illegal purchase by his country’s police of this software which, once installed in a mobile phone, allows access to the user’s messaging and data, but also to activate the device remotely to capture sound or image.

In 2021, 17 international media outlets revealed that this software had been used around the world to spy on the phones of hundreds of politicians, journalists, human rights activists and business leaders.

According to Colombian intelligence, the spyware was purchased with funds from money laundering, which the US official categorically denied. After the revelations about Pegasus, the United States ended the program in 2022 before President Petro came to power but without informing him, the American official said.

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