A dramatic political upheaval is taking place in as politically independent nationalist lawyer and businessman Abelardo de la Esperilla secured a narrow but decisive victory in Sunday’s runoff. His takeover marks a sharp rightward turn for the South American country amid intense public fears of a resurgence of internal armed conflict and a rise in crime.
With the count reaching 100%, de la Esperilla had 49.66% of the vote (a difference of about 250,000 votes), leaving behind the progressive senator and ally of the outgoing president, , who received 48.70%.
Bogota citizens, a lot of peace according to the data, who gives the presidency to Abelardo is not Antioquia but Bogotá where a middle class beneficiary of my government’s labor reform, decided to close the distance that progressivism had by voting with 300,000…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo)
The left has already said it will contest the result in thousands of polling stations, but de la Esperilla’s victory has already been greeted with celebrations in the streets of Bogotá and a congratulatory phone call from Donald Trump.
REUTERS/Juan David Duque REFILE – QUALITY REPEAT
“The Tiger” behind the bulletproof glass
“The Colombian people have entrusted me with the supreme honor of serving them as the next president of the Republic,” de la Espriña, 47, told thousands of supporters in the coastal city of Barranquilla, standing behind bulletproof glass for security reasons. The new president, who has no previous political experience and earned the nickname “The Tiger” for his aggressive rhetoric, has promised to rule for all Colombians, barring political persecution.
Colombian right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in presidential election, according to an initial ballot count, as voters bet on his promise of a crackdown on crime
— Reuters (@Reuters)
His victory is seen as a direct condemnation of the policies of the outgoing left-wing president Gustavos Petros. The loser of the election, Iván Cepeda, had pledged to continue the Petro program (state pensions, labor reforms and a freeze on new oil projects), but voters opted for de la Espriña’s promise of a radical change of course.
REUTERS/Juan David Duque
Super-prisons, fracking and the “Bouquet model”
De la Esperilla has designed an “iron fist” agenda against real-time crime and drug trafficking. His key statements include:
- Termination of peace talks with rebel organizations and criminal gangs, which he considers to have failed.
- Construction of 10 mega-prisons, copying the aggressive and controversial methods of the president of El Salvador, Naguib Bukele.
- Reduction in the size of the state, by 40% and a drastic reduction in taxes.
- Restarting oil extraction and fracking, aiming to almost double production to 1.3 million barrels per day.
Analysts, however, warn that implementing the “Bukele model” in a country as large and complex as Colombia will be extremely difficult, especially since the new president will have to work with a deeply divided Congress, where Cepeda’s party holds the majority of seats.
Trump supporter with dual citizenship and shady connections
De la Espriella, who holds Colombian, Italian and American citizenship and owns homes in several countries, is a supporter of Donald Trump and a member of the Republican Party. He had even received the official support of the American president before the second round.
Despite his profile as a successful businessman (with businesses in wine, clothing and real estate), an investigation by local media La Silla Vacia revealed that many of his businesses are in debt or closed, with his law firm remaining his only profitable source of income. At the same time, he has received strong criticism for the fact that in the past he had been the lawyer of Alex Schaab (accused in the US of money laundering in favor of Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela), as well as persons connected to right-wing paramilitary networks. He rejects the accusations, stressing that his professional status does not imply complicity.
The “pink wave” recedes in Latin America
The election of de la Espriña, who is expected to take office on August 7, is not an isolated event but confirms a broader right-wing, nationalist wave sweeping Latin America.
After Argentina (Miley), Chile (Cast), Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama, the right now also prevails in Peru, where the conservative Keiko Fujimori is narrowly ahead in the presidential elections. The rise of the far right and populism in the region is fueled by weakened economies and a sharp rise in crime, completely reversing the so-called “pink wave” of left-wing governments that had dominated the early 2020s.
