Protest against corruption in São Paulo, Brazil. April 25, 2017. Cris Faga / Zuma Press / PA Images. All rights reserved.
Despite their different political affiliations and ideologies, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo have one rather damning connection: their futures are tied to the construction company responsible for the biggest corruption scandal in history.
Just months after becoming the world’s newest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Santos received last week the questionnaire from the National Electoral Council (CNE) to respond to allegations that he received illegal campaign funds from Brazil’s Odebrecht. Lula, who also was in court last week on bribery-related accusations in connection with a different construction company, was also recently implicated in more than one scheme of the Odebrecht scandal, which could dampen his 2018 presidential bid. Toledo, on the other hand, was ordered to pre-trial detention for allegedly receiving $20 million in bribes from the construction behemoth, though he has been allegedly on the run since. Interpol issued a red-alert notice to 190 member countries in an attempt to capture him, but Toledo, who is likely in California, can’t be detained unless a US judge approves his capture. Toledo has, however, communicated through social media affirming his innocence and declaring he is being persecuted for his anti-poverty ideologies by his “political enemies who do not believe in democracy, who believe they must take away the rights of the poor - the right to learn to fish.”
