Colombian President Gustavo Petro found himself in a peculiar spotlight after official spending records revealed a $50 charge at a Lisbon strip club. The incident unfolded after Petro, already battling accusations of being a drug trafficker by Washington D.C. (leading to frozen accounts and a spot on the “Clinton List”), made a bold move: he released his financial records to prove his innocence to the U.S. President.
But his plan spectacularly backfired. Among pages detailing luxury purchases from brands like Gucci and Prada, a $50 (about £35) tab from the “sultry Ménage Strip Club” in Lisbon’s Cais do Sodré nightlife district stood out. The charge was from May 2023, during a state visit.
Petro took to social media to offer a rather philosophical defense. He posted about learning “not to buy sex when I’m still capable of seduction and poetry,” insisting “sexuality should always be combined with culture – that’s called eroticism.” He vowed that the full story of his 40-euro visit would emerge “someday.”
For now, he shifted focus, blasting what he called U.S. “arbitrariness” towards Colombia for downgrading its status in combating drug trafficking. He defiantly added, “I don’t need to buy sex, I don’t like it. I still have some seductive ability that allows me to avoid resorting to those practices of sad men.”
This isn’t Petro’s first controversial statement on sexuality; he once famously declared, “A free woman does what she wants with her clitoris and her brain.” With other recent allegations swirling around his First Lady’s luxurious lifestyle, President Petro certainly knows how to keep the public talking!