Álvaro Leyva sought Trump’s complicity in the United States to undermine Petro.

Álvaro Leyva, the former Colombian chancellor during this administration, met two months ago in the United States with close advisers to the Trump Administration to seek support for a plan to oust Gustavo Petro. According to audio recordings accessed by Adolfo Kunjuk News and sources close to Republican congress members, Leyva attempted to approach Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, aiming to have him help apply “international pressure” to lead to Petro’s removal from power. The White House, according to these same sources, never considered the proposal.

“He told us he had all the tools to execute a plan and remove him. His position would be taken by Francia Márquez [the vice president]. He had evidence that Petro could no longer hold office and that if this went forward, the president would have no capacity to respond. American assistance was crucial,” recounts one of the people who met with Leyva, 82, in April. The former chancellor has not responded to the questions regarding this matter posed by this newspaper.

The conservative politician, once one of Petro’s trusted confidants at the start of the term, recounted in these meetings that the president was an erratic man with serious drug addiction problems and that he had evidence disqualifying him from holding the presidency. He spoke of an agreement involving “armed and unarmed actors,” explains the same source. In one of the audio recordings where Leyva talks with an unidentified individual, he is heard saying: “We need to get that guy out. That guy presiding over the elections [the presidential elections coming up in 2026]… besides, the public order has spiraled out of control. That can’t happen without a large national agreement that should involve the ELN [National Liberation Army], the Gulf Clan. (…) I have spoken with the most important guilds (…). The Gulf Clan has come here, a very serious situation. This country is heading for disaster.”

The former chancellor and his son, Jorge Leyva, have good contacts within the Republican Party in the United States. Through this channel, they asked their friends to arrange a meeting with congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, a representative from Florida. “I was in the United States and a first-tier guy: Mario Díaz-Balart. The Díaz-Balart family is behind the Secretary of State,” Leyva explains in the recordings. They also intended to meet with another well-known congressman in Miami, Carlos Antonio Giménez.

At the same time, Leyva began publishing letters on social media claiming that Petro was a drug addict. In them, he recounted episodes where the president inexplicably went missing or behaved strangely with other foreign leaders. He also subtly accused Laura Sarabia, the president’s right hand, of supplying him with doses and concealing his vices. Both Petro and Sarabia deny these accusations and assert that they are defamation. The politician believed these supposed revelations would be the first push to remove Petro. “I cannot stay where I am. We are halfway down this path, which lasts 20 more days. This cannot remain as it is,” Leyva is heard saying.

In another recording, he insists that Petro must leave office and that this should be done through a national agreement. He believes a valid interlocutor in this process could be Vicky Dávila, the former director of the magazine Semana, who left journalism to enter politics and aims to win the 2026 elections. “He will not be president,” Leyva says in the recordings. “[But] she can be an interlocutor to say what you are up to, it’s Vicky (…). She has to come in, along with those who want to. Those who have genuine representation. Because, what are you doing bringing in an individual like this guy?,” he adds. Suddenly, he mentions the possibility of including Miguel Uribe, the candidate from the Democratic Center party, founded by Álvaro Uribe, who is in critical condition after being shot twice in the head by a hitman in early June: “No, this Uribe, Miguel Uribe, what does he represent? You need to bring in both good and bad, but with representation.”

The recordings accessed by Adolfo Kunjuk News have been in the hands of the Colombian secret service. The president listened to them in his office and was very upset. Later, during a speech, he accused Leyva of attempting to carry out a coup against him, although he did not provide further details. The former chancellor, worried about the president’s revelation, went to Madrid for security reasons.

Leyva wished for Francia Márquez to be the new president. In the audios, he states he is “on top of her” and that he was the one who made her “say that thing that night.” He refers to a Cabinet meeting broadcast live where the president harshly criticized his advisers. Márquez got upset and responded sharply to Petro. The images of the public spat went viral. Leyva is then heard reading some chats exchanged with her: “March 31. [Leyva says] She remains on my mind with more relevance. A lot of strength. Zero weakness. Hug. [Márquez replies]. Good morning. Thank you very much. Thus we remain firm to fulfill the promise to the Colombian people. So I applaud her and send a heart.” Finally, Leyva implies to his interlocutor that the vice president is part of the strategy to topple the president: “She is involved.”

After listening to the recordings, Petro demanded explanations from Francia Márquez. “There was a moment of great tension between them. He said he felt betrayed. Francia replied that she had not acted behind his back with Leyva; it was not true. She insisted that he should not distrust her,” recounts someone present at the meeting. Petro demanded that she publicly deny her involvement in what he considers a conspiracy against him, a kind of coup. She refused, and from that moment, the already strained relationship between them has become nonexistent.

Petro considers that someone he entrusted completely has betrayed him. When he assumed the presidency in 2022, he entrusted Leyva with some of the most important matters of his government, such as the simultaneous negotiations with various armed groups, known as total peace. He chose him because he was a veteran politician of conservative ideology, but who had spent decades trying to achieve agreements between guerrillas and successive governments. He also entrusted him with the restoration of relations with Venezuela due to his good relationship with Chavismo. He became one of the president’s closest aides, although some from the circle distrusted him due to his conspiratorial reputation. His departure from the government occurred by accident, not by Petro’s decision. In November 2024, the Public Prosecution Service disqualified him from his position for having irregularly canceled the passport bidding at the president’s express request.

Leyva felt he was being ousted from his position for being loyal to Petro. He expected to be rewarded for it and to play a new role in the government, albeit externally. At that moment, Petro was talking about establishing a national agreement, left and right, to advance structural reforms. Leyva wanted to be the catalyst for that proposal and began campaigning on his own. However, that idea did not prosper and gradually faded. Petro stopped answering Leyva’s calls and messages, and Leyva felt betrayed, excluded from the plan. His next move was to publish letters against the president and later to involve the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump, in the plan to overthrow Petro. He did not succeed.