bogota, colombia —
A far-right populist backed by US President Donald Trump won primary votes in Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday, pledging that a vote for him would mean a decisive crackdown on the country’s decades-long crisis of crime and armed conflict.
Abelardo de la Espriera, a former criminal lawyer who calls himself “Tiger,” holds passports from the United States and Italy, as well as his Colombian one. President Trump posted on Truth Social late Sunday night, along with an article about the Colombia results: “He won, big deal!” Sunday’s close run-off election saw 99.91% of the votes counted, with preliminary counts showing the 47-year-old won by a narrow margin.
During his campaign, Mr. de la Espriera came to the spotlight for offering immediate solutions to a range of problems, including the bitter legacy of a neglected 2016 peace deal amid renewed violence, with insurgents planting landmines again and fifth-graders in local schools receiving regular lessons on how to deal with unexploded ordnance.
With support from President Trump, he espoused an iron-fisted approach to criminal justice and rode the wave that brought other right-wing populists to power in Latin America. Like El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Mr. de la Espriela wants to open a series of mega-prisons, but like Argentina’s chainsaw-wielding President Javier Milei, he also advocates deep cuts in public spending.
His inexperience proved to be no deterrent to supporters and political backers. Mr. Trump, Mr. Bukele and Mr. Milei have all endorsed Mr. de la Espriera, along with prominent far-right figures such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the family of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Before entering politics, Mr. de la Espriela worked as a lawyer on high-profile cases, including the prostitution scandal involving U.S. Secret Service agents during former President Barack Obama’s 2012 visit to Cartagena. He also represented Alex Saab, an alleged financier of Venezuela’s ousted President Nicolas Maduro, who was recently extradited to the United States on money laundering charges.
When asked about his involvement with controversial clients as a lawyer years before entering politics, Mr. de la Espriela replied, “Ethics has nothing to do with law.”
How he intends to govern Colombia as a whole remains unclear. His campaign has been noisy but details are scant, and Mr. de la Espriela has yet to make public his plans for government. But his choice of former finance minister José Manuel Restrepo as vice president suggests he will seek support from some sectors of the conservative base.
One source of friction is that Mr. de la Espriera’s political movement, Defenders of the Fatherland, has no seats in Colombia’s Congress or Senate. To pass the law, the new president will need to broker a deal with traditional right-wing parties opposed to current President Gustavo Petro.
His many passports can cause another problem. Mr. de la Espriela has always expressed pride in his dual citizenship, which could conflict with the obligations of a foreign head of state because naturalized U.S. citizens take an oath of allegiance. He said holding a U.S. passport would further protect him from harm in Colombia.
But the real monumental challenge that awaits him is how to end the chronic cycle of violence that has been the bedrock of Colombia’s history since independence.
Colombia, the world’s biggest producer of cocaine, has seen its peace plans falter 10 years after the much-touted 2016 peace deal that ended the Western Hemisphere’s longest civil war.
The criminal organization is currently filling the void left by the disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). They are growing in strength, recruiting 5,000 new members last year alone, according to the Ideas for Peace Foundation, a local security think tank.
According to government figures, the number of injuries and deaths from landmines in the country, a tactic once employed by the FARC and now adopted by emerging groups, has increased by 20% over the past few years.
“After the peace agreement, there were some areas that the state certified for clearance. Today, we are re-counting casualties in those same areas,” Crl said. (R) Luis Villamarín, former counter-guerrilla officer in the Colombian army. “Ten years worth of demining work is being lost in a matter of months.”
Outgoing President Gustavo Petro took a comprehensive approach to fighting crime. It was called “total peace” and meant negotiating with the rebels rather than pursuing them militarily. In an interview with CNN, he argued that the strategy is only beginning to show results, with the country’s coca fields, a key source of income for armed groups, finally shrinking for the first time since 2019.
De la Espriela, by contrast, promised ferocity. The likely next president, whose political message centers on the image of a tiger and refers to his followers as a “herd,” has pledged to end “total pacifism” and launch an all-out assault on criminal organizations in close coordination with the U.S. military, a long-held desire of Trump.
He also envisions a “Plan Colombia 2.0” to address violence. This is a reference to previous military cooperation plans between the United States and Colombia in the years leading up to the 2016 agreement.
In this sense, de la Espriela has pitched voters for a throwback to the past and a more forceful approach to security and crime, a strategy that has so far failed to solve Colombia’s remaining problems.
Carlos Prieto, a member of the 2016 negotiating team, said: “We are at a point where we need a lot of innovation in the way we talk about peace and security.” “We need to thoroughly rethink our strategy and glean lessons from the past and a little creativity.”
It has clearly been proven that he is capable of running creative campaigns, but governing the country is still another matter.
