COLOMBIAN President Gustavo Petro took to the streets of Bogota on Wednesday along with tens of thousands of protesters against the beginning of moves by the right-wing opposition to oust him from power.

The president and his Vice-President Francia Marquez took part in several marches amidst allegations of illegal financing of his election campaign 10 months ago.

The moves by the opposition to oust Mr Petro also threaten three key social reforms on health, pensions and labour standards.

Last week two of Mr Petro’s closest political allies, Laura Sarabia and Armando Benedetti, resigned after an investigation by the attorney general over a series of allegations involving illegal wiretaps by the country’s intelligence services.

On Monday the Congress decided to investigate the president and the origin of his campaign funds, with a view to proposing articles of  impeachment against him.

This came after phone messages to Mr Petro’s chief of staff by the country’s former ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, were leaked alleging that he raised almost $4 million from donors for the campaign and insinuated part of that money came from drug trafficking.

From a rally in Bogota, Mr Petro compared the move to remove him to what happened to Pedro Castillo in Peru. 

Mr Castillo was ousted by the right-wing controlled parliament in December and replaced by his vice-president Dina Boluarte.

Mr Castillo has been held in detention by Peruvian authorities since his removal, with troops gunning down protesters against his overthrow.

President Petro said: “This is called a soft coup against the popular will.

“We say to those who are promoting this strategy: ‘Petro is not alone’.”

He said that the Colombian people will take to the streets to defend the popular mandate if a ‘soft coup’ occurs.

“The people who elected the president are still with him.”

President Petro accused state investigative organisations of having made illegal intercepts to his campaign during the government of former president Ivan Duque (2018-2022).

Mr Petro said: “For months and months of interception they did not manage to find even 10 seconds in which candidate Petro spoke of some irregularity, pronounced a simple rudeness or established that his campaign was being run in a dishonest way.”

President Petro announced today that he will travel to Cuba, where peace negotiations are taking place with the guerilla National Liberation Army to “sign a role that can mean the relentless beginning of an era of peace for this country.”