María Masip Zawady, known as ‘La Coco’ or ‘La Turca’, a young woman from Santa Marta, is being identified as one of the members of the ‘yellow butterflies’ group, who are attributed with closeness to former president Gustavo Petro.
In her specific case, versions have circulated within the Petrist circles themselves claiming that two of her relatives were awarded contracts worth more than 500 million pesos in entities ranging from Prosperidad Social to Colombia Compra Eficiente. And her cousin is included, who is recorded as having contracts with several entities and is accused of having held a seat on the board of directors of Coosalud Inversa, one of the firms linked to the intervened EPS Coosalud.
The apartment and the BMW
The colleague media Cambio published that María Masip Zawady, ‘La Coco’, would have met Gustavo Petro before he took office as President and that when he assumed the presidency, officials and contractors would have started pooling part of their salaries and fees to give the young woman a monthly amount close to 15 million pesos.
Also, that a man known as ‘Pacho’, interested in several bids, would have made available to her an apartment in Chicó (North Bogotá) and a BMW.
The case of ‘La Coco’ joins the complaints of Angie Rodríguez, former head of the Adaptation Fund and once the right hand of former president Petro, about a ‘network of women’ who had influence in positions and contracts in several state entities, among whom Juliana Guerrero – prosecuted for her false degrees – and Gabriela Muñoz are also mentioned, who was a contractor at Aerocivil. The latter reappeared in recent days alongside the former president at a meeting of the Historic Pact in Bogotá.
In a sector of the Petro government, that network was called the ‘Yellow Butterflies’ and they even refer to the painting the president ordered to be painted and hung on the walls of Casa de Nariño.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO investigated and established that ‘La Coco’s’ cousin is Martha Elena Zawady Rodríguez, a television presenter and producer who during Gustavo Petro’s administration signed contracts worth 184 million pesos with various entities.
One of these is with Prosperidad Social, for the provision of services to the Advisory Communications Office, signed last January with an execution period until next November.
Also, she has another with the Single Fund of Technologies of the Ministry of Information Technologies to strengthen the relationship and institutional presence of that ministry; two more with the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (AUNAP) to strengthen the entity’s communications plan and another with the National Territorial Development Promoter Company S.A (ENTerritorio) in support of journalistic activities.
‘She never recommended me’
EL TIEMPO located Martha Zawady to ask her about those contracts and the alleged mediation of then president Petro through her cousin.
“María is my cousin, she has never intervened or recommended my work, I have always managed on my own. When an entity has hired me, I can assure it is because of my experience and professionalism”, Zawady began to say.
And she added: “I have no knowledge of the type of relationship she has with the former president. She lives in Bogotá and I in the city of Cartagena, so I have no further information on the matter”.
Regarding contracts with entities such as Mintic and Prosperidad Social, she said they were signed under the conditions and procedures established for the contracting of professional service provision at the national level, in accordance with the applicable regulatory framework.
‘I already resigned’
It has even been claimed that in August 2025 ‘La Coco’s’ cousin joined, as a substitute, the board of directors of Coosalud Inversa, one of the firms linked to the intervened EPS of the same name, through a list presented by Andrés Felipe Arango, then special intervention agent of the Coosalud Cooperative.
About that position, Martha Zawady assured EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit: “At this moment I do not belong to any board of directors of any entity related to Coosalud, as evidenced by the certificate of existence and legal representation of Coosalud Inversa S.A. I have been practicing my profession as a journalist independently for more than 25 years”.
And she added: “In August 2025, the intervention agent of Coosalud Inversa, Andrés Arango, upon arriving at the entity requested a change of the Board of Directors of the companies attached to the cooperative and chose the people who had the most knowledge of the entity to accompany him. In my case, I have been providing services to the cooperative for more than 20 years in communications and audiovisual matters, so I was included as a personal substitute for the third line. A position without major representation and without fees, it is important to highlight that this board is not remunerated”.
The investigation
She also said she never participated in any call because they always summoned the main members of the board and that since that same August she submitted her resignation: “I didn’t have time due to work and personal reasons”.
She concluded by saying she feels persecuted for carrying the surname of María Masip Zawady, ‘La Coco’, who categorically denied any accusation that would affect her good name and that her safety could be at risk.
EL TIEMPO also contacted Juan Manuel Masip, brother of ‘La Coco’, who is also accused of having obtained contracts in entities such as Colombia Compra Eficiente, but by the time of this edition’s closing he had not answered calls or messages.
(Check out all the stories from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit here)
This newspaper tried to contact ‘La Coco’ through her cousin, but by the time of this edition’s closing she had not answered.
In any case, the allegations are already being investigated, as well as the security schemes of the National Protection Unit for Juliana Guerrero and Gabriela Muñoz.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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