It took a while, but the endorsement that Colombia’s far-right presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella was most eagerly awaiting has finally arrived. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his support for him on Tuesday via his social media platform, Truth. And he did so in the most effusive way possible: “Congratulations to Colombian presidential candidate El Tigre, Abelardo de la Espriella, a smart, strong, and tough leader, on his decisive victory in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election,” the Republican celebrated in his message.
De la Espriella, whose rise reflects a shift in Latin America towards leaders favoring heavy-handed crime policies, is expected to gain more support in the June 21 runoff.
Just daysremain until the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on May 31, and millions of citizens still haven’t decided which of the 12 candidates to vote for.
The global far right, which has achieved major milestones in recent years by seizing power in countries such as Argentina and Chile, is now watching closely the elections Colombia will hold on May 31. Abelardo de la Espriella, a lawyer making his political debut as an outsider, has emerged as the country’s extremist figure, invoking epic rhetoric to position himself as the ideal candidate to defeat the left. His campaign has focused on defending a “miracle homeland,” a country of traditional values with the economy and security at its core, where the left— or “communism,” as he calls it—and moderate parties play no leading role. His message has resonated in a society battered by violence, where many see the self-styled “Tiger” as a necessary change.
Bogotá, Colombia – A challenge to a public debate, accusations about football shirts used as political symbols, and increasingly sharp exchanges on social media — campaigning for Colombia’s run-off in its presidential election is already underway just a day after Abelardo de la Espriella emerged as the surprise first-round winner.
While Senator Iván Cepeda had been widely expected to come out on top and enter the second round in a stronger position, his camp was left disappointed after falling short of those expectations.
Although he still claimed nearly 41% of the tally, de la Espriella surpassed him by almost three points, coming out with 44%.
Analysts say the run off is wide open. An important factor is supporters of other candidates whose votes are up for grabs. But a decisive factor is also likely to be those who didn’t participate at all in the first round.
“Whoever manages to somehow win over the undecided voters who didn’t vote in the first round but will vote in the second, I think that’s already enough to be president,” political analyst Oscar Chala said.
With three weeks to go until the June 21 elections, the race is on to sweep up those votes, and the candidates haven’t wasted any time in trying to position themselves.
Shortly after the results, Cepeda’s camp alleged irregularities in the vote, although the candidate backtracked the next day, saying they were not significant.
He also criticised the wearing of Colombian football shirts as part of political campaigns, linking it to de la Espriella’s far right movement — and also challenged him to a public debate, something he had not previously participated in.
“Cepeda is now inviting and wanting to hold a debate when he had always avoided it. That is a sign of desperation,” Rubén Erazo, political consultant, told Latin America Reports.
Although de la Espriella accepted the debate — which will be held on Tuesday June 9 — he also called his rival a “coward” and accused his campaign of hiding behind Petro.
Despite the disappointing result for Cepeda, he gained roughly what polls had been predicting — even marginally higher. Yet analysts say he struggled to win over undecided and abstentionist voters and lacked a solid and coherent campaign.
“The failures of Cepeda’s campaign are that Cepeda is not himself the candidate. The candidate is the current president Petro,” political consultant Rubén Erazo said, referring to this election being more like a referendum on Petro’s legacy.
He said this incorporates “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of his presidency. While he expanded social programmes, other policies, such as opening ambitious negotiations with armed groups, were highly controversial. Those dissatisfied with what Petro stands for are likely to be against Cepeda.
Despite knockbacks, Erazo says this doesn’t mean it is game over for the senator and Petro ally.
“Cepeda could win as long as his team reorients his strategy, acknowledges mistakes, thinks calmly and does not focus solely on claiming fraud,” he said.
The race is still very much open — and analysts say anything could happen, and that a lot will depend on where they target their political energy.
“Cepeda is likely to move closer to the centre and Abelardo could become more radical. The strategy Abelardo will use to try to win is to radicalize his discourse because he knows that Iván Cepeda will start seeking centrist votes,” Chala said.
He believes Espriella will also target an abstentionist segment on the right, even further right than traditional right-wing establishment figures such as Paloma Valencia, who once polled above 20% but ultimately secured just under 7%.
This part of the electorate is conservative, often macho, and wants hardline security strategies and more investment in the country.
De la Espriella was the main candidate able to capitalize on this as well as anti-Petro sentiment, and is expected to continue drawing support from parts of Valencia’s former base.
“However, his discourse is very anti-establishment and he’s not seeking the support of political parties,” Chala explained.
Nevertheless, Paloma Valencia — and her mentor, former president Álvaro Uribe — have come out in support of de la Espriella. Her relevance is not yet completely diminished if she can convince those who supported her to shift to this camp.
Moreover, while Cepeda took a backseat in his own campaign and drew heavily on traditional strategies such as mass gatherings and marches, Espriella, as well as doing this, drew heavily on crafting his own image — calling himself “The Tiger”.
“Everything is exaggerated and trying to inspire: the planes, the Italian suits from when he was a lawyer, and even his image of advising controversial figures,” he said. “Even the beard, for example, is copied from Nayib Bukele. It’s the same style.”
De la Espriella is plainly anti-establishment and aligns himself with Nayib Bukele, Javier Milei and Donald Trump. That appeals to some of the electorate, and repels another part.
At this stage, both candidates are still very much in this race, with everything to play for.
Featured image description: Iván Cepeda (Left) and Abelardo de la Espriella (Right).
BOGOTÁ, May 31 — A right-wing millionaire lawyer who vows an iron fist on narco gangs and a leftist philosopher-turned-senator have made it through to a June 21 runoff to see who will be Colombia’s next president.
‘The Tiger’
Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, is a millionaire lawyer and businessman who said he entered politics to prevent Colombia from being “destroyed” by the left.
He holds US President Donald Trump, Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele in high esteem.
Sporting impeccable suits and, more recently, a bulletproof vest, his legal career saw him defend prominent Colombian figures including drug traffickers and soccer stars.
Before launching his presidential bid, De la Espriella lived in Florence, Italy, where he dabbled in opera, jetted around in private planes and promoted his rum and wine businesses.
To combat drug cartels in Colombia, the world’s biggest cocaine producer, De la Espriella proposes a military alliance with the United States and Israel and the construction of mega-prisons, while also defending the right to carry weapons.
“Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down as the law allows,” he told AFP in an interview in February.
Branding himself “The Tiger,” the candidate has a penchant for swearing and is known for his hot temper.
He called for the Colombian left to be “gutted,” but later toned down his language.
He has also made remarks considered homophobic and sexist and frequently refers to his “balls.”
Survivor
Ivan Cepeda first appeared in public in 1994, in his early 30s, next to the corpse of his father, a communist senator who was assassinated by paramilitaries.
Standing in front of a bullet-riddled truck, his call for justice was televised.
“Let this crime not go unpunished,” Cepeda told reporters in a measured tone, during a period of persecution that saw more than 5,700 leftist leaders killed.
The 63-year-old has previously lived in exile in the former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba and France.
Returning to Colombia, he advocated for armed conflict victims and played a key role in the historic 2016 peace accord, which led to the disarmament of the rebel army FARC—formerly the country’s largest armed group.
His adversaries accuse him of having ties to FARC and reproach him for having devised outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan.
“I have survived genocide, stigmatization and relentless persecution. And here I am, still standing,” he said during the campaign.
Typically wearing a traditional Caribbean shirt, Cepeda forgoes a tie, which he considers a symbol of oligarchy.
The senator led the investigation into former president Uribe’s ties with paramilitaries before it went to court, where Uribe became the first Colombian leader to be convicted of a crime last year.
Although a judge later overturned the ruling, the incident established Cepeda as the right-wing leader’s main political enemy and an icon of the left. — AFP
Abelardo de la Espriella’s unexpected victory over Iván Cepeda on Sunday, in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election, shows that right‑wing voters are now almost entirely united behind the penal lawyer, while left‑wing voters are fully consolidated behind the senator. The 653,000‑vote margin the far-right candidate held over the senator seems small in an election where 24 million people cast a vote and more than 3 million voted for other candidates. The challenge for the runoff would appear to be persuading those voters — but given the candidates’ profiles and recent history, the path necessarily also runs through the mobilization of people who did not go to the polls on Sunday.
Bogotá, Colombia – Iván Cepeda and Abelardo de la Espriella, two of the frontrunners to be the next Colombian president, have announced their choices for vice president following Sunday’s legislative elections and presidential primaries.
Cepeda selected Aida Quilcué, a senator and Indigenous leader, to join him on the ticket for the left-wing Historic Pact (Pacto Historico), which won the most congressional seats on Sunday. Meanwhile, de la Espriella, a hard-right outsider, announced today that he will run alongside ex-finance minister José Manuel Restrepo.
But the big winner in Sunday’s primary, right-wing Paloma Valencia of the Democratic Center (Centro Democrático) party, has yet to announce her running mate amid mounting speculation.
Cepeda sticks to his guns
On Monday, Cepeda formally announced Aida Quilcué as his running mate. A leader of the Nasa Indigenous group, Quilcué has a record as a staunch defender of human rights and as an advocate for ethnic minorities in Colombia.
She was integral to the negotiation of the ethnic chapter of the 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and has been a key figure in Colombia’s Indigenous rights movement.
Last month, Quilcué made national headlines when she was kidnapped in her home state of Cauca, in the Colombian Pacific, by dissidents of the FARC.
Miguel Jaramillo Luján, a Colombian political strategist, described Cepeda’s choice of Quilcué as a “symbolic” one which entrenches his stance as an advocate of peace and human rights.
But the analyst also noted that the selection may not be the most politically savvy move: “From an electoral standpoint, I believe that this is a concentric circle and does not add much electoral power to Iván Cepeda, who I think is acting symbolically but overly prideful in this decision,” Jaramillo told Latin America Reports.
De la Espriella’s establishment pick
Abelardo de la Espriella, a criminal defense attorney, has styled himself as an anti-establishment political outsider. His traditional values, tough on crime campaign has been successful so far, regularly placing him in second place in presidential polls.
Today, ‘The Tiger’, as he has styled himself, announced his running mate: José Manuel Restrepo.
Restrepo is an economist at the Rosario University in Bogotá and served as President Ivan Duque’s Minister of Finance and Public Credit from May 2021 to August 2022, running the country’s finances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that he was Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism beginning in 2018.
“I think the selection of José Manuel Restrepo… represents an attempt to counterbalance de la Espriella, who has no experience in public office,” said Jaramillo.
While de la Espriella is an outsider, he must take on Cepeda and Valencia, both sitting senators since 2014. Restrepo burnishes the criminal lawyer’s bid by adding proven governance credentials.
When announcing his running mate on Tuesday, de la Espriella said: “My choice of vice president was not driven by political calculation… it was clear to me that a renowned academic, an outstanding economist, and a highly qualified former minister and technician will undoubtedly be the best travel companion.”
Paloma Valencia in the spotlight
On Sunday, Paloma Valencia received over 45% of votes in presidential primaries, although Cepeda and de la Espriella were both absent from the contest.
Valencia’s win, as well as her Democratic Center party’s strong showing in legislative elections – winning the second highest number of seats – bolsters her position in the presidential race, according to experts.
“From the [primaries], it’s clear that Paloma Valencia is the right-wing’s principal candidate,” Sergio Guzmán, director at Colombia Risk Analysis, a political risk consultancy, told Latin America Reports.
Before Sunday’s vote, de la Espriella had been dominating conservative polls. Now, it is unclear which conservative candidate will attract the most voters in May’s election.
Whoever emerges as the winner must face off with Cepeda and will be under pressure to win over centrist Colombians, said Guzman.
One way to achieve this is by selecting running mates with a broader appeal.
Sunday’s primaries highlighted the widespread popularity of Juan Daniel Oviedo, who was on the same list as Valencia and won 17% of the total votes. The former director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), Oviedo is considered center-right and notably more moderate than Valencia.
Valencia is under mounting public pressure to pick Oviedo as her running mate, according to Jaramillo, but the two differ on key issues and Oviedo has specified strict conditions for joining Valencia’s ticket.
“We openly show fundamental differences. For example, I believe in peace,” Oviedo told Colombian radio station Caracol on Monday. “You cannot take positions that do not recognize that the [2016 peace] agreement must be implemented and that it requires more than just bullets to get rid of criminals,” he added.
Valencia has staked her campaign on law and order, promising a ‘mano dura’, or ‘iron fist’, against crime and armed groups in Colombia. Her politics follow those of her party’s founder, ex-president Álvaro Uribe, who waged war on the FARC rebels from 2002 to 2010.
Today, Valencia told Caracol that she will not compromise on this: “I am an Uribista and I have my values and principles… Neither he [Oviedo] will change nor will I change.”
But Valencia said she remains open to running alongside Oviedo, with the two due to meet today to discuss a possible joint ticket. She is also considering four other possible running mates, according to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, with her decision due by Friday.
Jaramillo argues the best move for Valencia is not to pick Oviedo, as he is legally bound to support her as they ran under the same list in the primaries.
He believes she should distance herself from Uribe – arguing Uribistas are more likely to back de la Espriella – and instead court the moderate vote by choosing a center-left candidate.
But Guzmán says that is unlikely: “She seems to be going in a different direction.”
Featured image description: Left to right: Iván Cepeda, Paloma Valencia, Abelardo de la Espriella.
Featured image credit: @PactoCol via X / @PalomaValenciaL via X / @ABDELAESPRIELLA via X
Abelardo de la Espriella surprised many with his first-round victory in Colombia with 44% of the vote. The leader in the polls had consistently been left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, with the far-right candidate appearing in second place. However, those polls showed Cepeda hovering around 40% of voter intention — and he received just that. They also reflected a significant rise for the far-right candidate in recent weeks, as well as a loss of appeal for traditional right-wing candidate Paloma Valencia. In those surveys the two of them together polled roughly between 35% and 40% of voting intention. In the end, De la Espriella reached 44% and Valencia managed only 6%.
Right-wing Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella on Wednesday thanked President Trump for his support after De La Espriella won the most votes in the initial round of elections. De La Espriella's message of thanks to the U.S. president included an AI-generated image of a bald eagle next to a tiger, with the eagle...
Less than three weeks before Colombians head to the polls in presidential elections, centrist candidate Claudia Lopez’s odds at victory are slim, to say the least.
Since winning the primary contest to lead the Consultation of Solutions (Consulta de las Soluciones) bloc in March, the silver-haired former mayor of Bogotá has been criss-crossing the country to win over moderate voters.
But the latest polls report the 56-year-old’s share of the vote as being in the low single digits.
Dressed in her signature gilet and sipping from a mug of coffee, the former Harvard University guest lecturer says in flawless English that she wants to do the interview in Spanish – “I need to get people to vote for me,” she jokes.
With little to lose, López speaks candidly about her time in office, her views on other politicians, and her experience on the campaign trail.
Watch the full interview here
Reflections on her mayorship
López, who steered Bogotá through the Covid-19 pandemic and a mass wave of anti-government protests, speaks proudly of her stint as mayor from 2020 to 2024.
The presidential hopeful rattles off a list of her achievements in office: her management of the Covid-19 pandemic, lifting 600,000 women out of poverty, and rolling out Bogotá’s public bicycle network.
López also speaks candidly about the problems during her mayorship, which spanned the administrations of presidents Iván Duque and Gustavo Petro.
“Interestingly, I ended up having an easier relationship with President Duque, a right-winger, than with my left-wing president, whom I voted for,” says López.
López, who publicly backed Petro’s candidacy, describes friction between the national government and the mayor’s office.
“President Petro is an effusive leader, but he is too effusive, very machista, and I, well, I don’t agree with that; if there’s one thing I can’t stand in my life, it’s the abuse of power.”
On the campaign trail
Today, the former senator finds herself trying to carve out a place in a noisy election cycle marked by political extremes and polarization.
Her coalition’s platform is based on three pillars: security and territorial governance; equality and social justice; and regional development without corruption.
López’s shift to the center has drawn some criticism, including from voters who note the former Green Alliance member’s u-turn on key environmental issues like fracking.
Last year, she declared: “If god gave us oil, coal, and gas, that is what we will use.”
“I maintain this stance,” insists López, adding she opposes the Petro administration’s pause on all oil and gas exploration. “Stopping gas exploration means halting Colombia’s energy transition – it’s a mistake.”
López argues the policy has damaged the economy and reduced funds for investment and development.
Instead, she backs a gradual transition: “I estimate that the transition in Colombia from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources will take us about 25 years, give or take.”
The candidate believes in preserving biodiversity, saying she would not authorize mineral exploration in the country’s forests or protected areas, marking a softer stance than some of her opponents.
Among her rivals, López is especially critical of right-wing criminal defense attorney Abelardo de la Espriella.
“He is the only candidate – let’s put it this way – whom I would absolutely never vote for. He is a defender of mobsters. He is a shadowy character,” says López.
De la Espriella notoriously represented figures linked to paramilitary death squads, the head of the worst pyramid scheme in Colombian history, and Alex Saab, considered the frontman for corruption schemes by former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
López argues that he is an Uribista – a supporter of the politics of right-wing ex-president Álvaro Uribe – but is on a different “side of the coin” to Uribe’s chosen candidate, Paloma Valencia.
“Paloma is definitely a supporter of Uribe, but she’s never exactly been a defender of mobsters,” explains López.
The ex-mayor refused to rule out voting for Valencia or for leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda, the two frontrunners alongside de la Espriella.
But López, a lesbian woman, is staunchly critical of Valencia’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights. The candidate for Uribe’s Democratic Center (Centro Democrático) party opposes adoption by same-sex couples while her party has blocked bans on conversion therapy.
She is particularly critical of Juan Daniel Oviedo, a gay politician, for agreeing to be Valencia’s running mate in March.
“I regret that Juan Daniel Oviedo feels compelled to play along with that anti-rights agenda. In fact, I believe he is the only person who has been told to his face that he is not considered an equal human being, that he is not considered a citizen with the same rights, and that they do not trust him to raise a child,” says López.
Despite her objections to Valencia, López says she still will not rule out voting for her in the second round, citing the improbable possibility that Paloma faces de la Espriella in a run-off.
But the former mayor maintains she would not endorse Valencia and Oviedo in any eventuality: “I wouldn’t campaign for them, ask anyone to vote for them, or endorse them.”
Looking to the future
Finally, faced with nearly impossible odds in May’s elections, López projects a springy optimism about her political future.
“I’m very happy with the campaign I’ve run, and I’m very grateful to the Colombian people,” says the candidate, stressing that it is just her first stab at the presidency.
“Ours is a new grassroots movement; we only just collected the signatures last year, so I feel grateful, happy, and very excited, and I’m going to continue in politics and continue working to build Colombian social democracy.”
This article originally appeared on The Bogotá Post and was republished with permission.
Colombia swung to the far right this Sunday, voting overwhelmingly for a candidate who won the support of 10 million citizens, Abelardo de la Espriella, the top vote-getter in the presidential first round. The criminal defense lawyer, who has never held elected office and once defended Alex Saab, Nicolás Maduro’s alleged front man in Venezuela, promises a shake-up of individual and collective rights: from putting God back into schools to pulling Colombia out of the United Nations. He still needs to mobilize votes for a runoff on June 21 against a left that represents the continuity of Gustavo Petro’s government. De la Espriella will be carried forward by very local banners, such as anti-Petrista sentiment, and by very global ones, like promises already voiced by far-right leaders around the world. Political leaders ranging from President Javier Milei of Argentina to Santiago Abascal, head of the hard-right Vox party in Spain, have already celebrated De la Espriella’s first-round victory.
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