Foreign News
Trump-Backed Candidate Wins Colombia’s Presidential Election
Colombian right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in Sunday’s presidential election, according to an initial ballot count, as voters bet on his Donald Trump-endorsed promise of a crackdown on crime and a stronger economy.
De La Espriella had 49.66% of the vote while rival Senator Ivan Cepeda trailed by some 250,000 votes at 48.70%. Cepeda, 63, had pledged to maintain President Gustavo Petro’s policies, including pension payments for the poor, labour reforms, a moratorium on new oil projects, and continued peace talks with armed groups. De La Espriella blamed Petro for the country’s economic and security troubles and vowed to end talks with rebels while boosting the oil and gas sector, lowering taxes and reducing the size of the state by up to 40%. He said he would preserve Petro’s 23% minimum wage increase and other popular social measures.
A Divided But Hopeful Electorate
“I will govern for all Colombians, for those who voted for me and for those who chose the other candidate,” De La Espriella told supporters in Barranquilla. He earlier celebrated a congratulatory call from Trump, who had endorsed him. De La Espriella is also a citizen of the U.S. and Italy and has homes in multiple countries. “It is a victory for Colombia — a change after four lost years with no clear direction,” said Viviana Olivos, a 46-year-old mechanical engineer at the celebration.
Congress And Conflict
The closeness of the race will likely force De La Espriella to water down some proposals to win support from a divided Congress. Cepeda’s Historic Pact party holds more seats than any other, though none has a majority. De La Espriella, a lawyer with no prior political experience, will also have to grapple with high public debt. An investigation by outlet La Silla Vacia found many of his businesses have been dissolved, are in debt and lost money in 2024, with his law firm being his most profitable endeavour.
Major business guilds, including the Colombo-American Chamber of Commerce, congratulated him on his victory. More than 26.3 million Colombians cast ballots of the 41.4 million eligible, with some 427,000 turning in blank ballots, usually seen as a protest vote.
Cepeda told supporters in Bogota he would await a final, ballot-by-ballot check, saying his campaign is challenging results from some 33,000 of 122,000 total ballot boxes. “We are open to dialogue; we are willing to reach agreements as long as they are respectful, genuine, and reflected in political actions that benefit the nation,” he said.
Security was a key concern for many De La Espriella voters, especially in regions where extortion and drug trafficking have risen. Many Cepeda supporters feared his rival’s rhetoric could return the country to more active conflict. “I am a victim, but Colombia has many victims,” said Cepeda supporter Margarita Restrepo, wearing a photo of her daughter, who disappeared in 2002 during a security operation ordered by former President Alvaro Uribe, a De La Espriella supporter. “Rancor has won again. Unfortunately, we are in a country where differences continue.”
A Regional Shift
Voters in Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Bolivia and Ecuador have elected right-wing presidents recently. In Peru, conservative Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, appears poised to win the presidency after three failed attempts.
Trump’s Growing Footprint In The Region
De La Espriella has cast Cepeda and Petro as allies of criminals, though Petro’s government says it has seized more cocaine than any other administration. Cepeda has rejected the accusations and criticized De La Espriella’s legal work for individuals tied to right-wing paramilitary groups and corruption cases, including Alex Saab, who faces U.S. charges of laundering money for Nicolas Maduro. De La Espriella says his professional relationships involve no complicity or crime.
Trump has moved to increase U.S. presence in the region, including by arresting Maduro, conducting deadly strikes in the Caribbean against small boats he accused of drug trafficking without presenting evidence, and creating the Shield of the Americas, a military alliance of right-wing leaders. Trump, who has publicly feuded with Petro, was criticized by congressional Democrats for his open endorsement of De La Espriella, saying the results are “very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States.”
(with input from Reuters)
