 According to an opposition group actively promoting Peñalosa's 2015 election to be recalled, Peñalosa has been misrepresenting his graduate degrees for 35 years.The group denounced that in an interview with the Brazilian newspaper "O Globo", Peñalosa had directly stated that he held a PhD in public administration, however only the edited interview was ever published, and given the differences between the Spanish and Portuguese languages, other proof of this statement remained unverified, including a direct statement from the lead reporter of said interview.Peñalosa himself has repeatedly claimed that he has never mentioned in public that he has a PhD degree, and that he firmly believes that his two graduate degrees earned in France are equivalent to master's degrees in the Colombian education system, while stating that his political opponents are actively trying to tarnish his academic credentials with unsubstantiated attacks while promoting his election to be recalled.