A flamboyant US-backed lawyer who has never held public office narrowly won Colombia‘s presidential runoff on Sunday, swinging the country hard right with a promise to wage war against drug-running guerrilla groups.
With almost all polling centers reporting, Abelardo de la Espriella won 49.7 percent of the vote versus left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda’s 48.7 percent.
Read moreAs It Happened: De la Espriella wins slim majority in Colombia’s election
The 47-year-old’s victory is set to improve strained relations with Washington and extends a wave of rightist candidates who have swept to power across Latin America promising “iron fist” security policies.
“We are beginning a new era!” de la Espriella, nicknamed “The Tiger”, told supporters in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla from behind bullet-proof glass.
“For those who have sown violence, terror, drug trafficking, and corruption all these years, their time is up!” he said.
“Pack your bags and prepare to exercise the opposition,” he added. “Make no mistake, Mr. Cepeda. You already know how fiercely the tiger roars.”
Read moreWho is Abelardo de la Espriella, the far‑right Trump fan who could lead Colombia?
President Donald Trump and a host of right-wing leaders from across the Americas have clamoured to offer congratulations and support.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated de la Espriella late Sunday and said the Trump administration looked forward to working with Colombia’s new leader.
“The Trump Administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen our economic ties,” Rubio wrote in an X post.
Unrest
After a campaign marred by guerrilla bomb attacks and the murder of a leading conservative presidential candidate, there was a quick sign of how tough it will be to unite the country.
As he was speaking, thousands of protesters gathered in Colombia’s third-largest city Cali.
Some burned American flags, others wielded bricks and bars and clashed with riot police, who tried to disperse the crowd with teargas.
But elsewhere there was elation. De la Espriella supporters poured onto the streets of several cities wearing the canary-yellow national football jersey he had adopted as a campaign uniform.
They waved flags, blew horns and expressed hope that “The Tiger”, as they call him, would bring security.
“I’m very happy,” said 30-year-old supporter Daniela Oliveros in Barranquilla. “I believe a lot in the country, I believe a lot in freedom.”
“Abelardo, at this moment, is giving us above all a sense of security, employment, and dignity,” she said.
But with only a few hundred thousand votes separating the two candidates – De la Espriella also voiced a conciliatory tone.
“Mine will be an absolutely democratic government and a guarantor of freedom and institutional order,” he said vowing to respect all races, religions and political stripes.
“I will govern for all Colombians, for those who voted for me and for those who choose another candidate,” he said.
War and peace
De la Espriella’s victory marks a return to power for Colombia’s right wing, which has ruled for all but four of the last 200 years.
His victory is likely to test Colombia’s fragile decade-old peace process.
During the campaign, the dual US-Colombian national, who calls himself “El Tigre” told AFP that he would scrap peace talks with dissident groups and launch a 90-day campaign of US-backed air strikes against them.
In the 10 years since a landmark peace accord was signed with FARC guerrillas, much of Colombia has prospered.
But cartels and dissident groups still control pockets of the country, cocaine exports are at an all-time high and Colombia remains one of the world’s most economically unequal countries.
“Colombia’s best days are ahead,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adding that Washington “looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration”.
‘Thirst for power’
His opponent, 63-year-old Cepeda, stopped short of conceding defeat.
Speaking from Bogota after the vote count was tallied, Cepeda told supporters that his campaign considers the count “unofficial and non-binding” and that his team will challenge results from more than 30,000 voting stations. No recount has flipped the results of a presidential election in Colombian history.
“We will not allow … the rollback of the social gains we have achieved,” Cepeda said. “We will not allow democracy to be violated.”
Read moreWho is Ivan Cepeda, the left-wing candidate in Colombia’s presidential elections?
Cepeda’s campaign had appealed to many worse-off Colombians who wanted a more equal economy and fear a return to violence.
“I’m very worried about what Abelardo might do in a government,” said 40-year-old bank worker Santiago Galindo, who voted for Cepeda.
Galindo worried “how far his thirst for power could go and his willingness to trample over people without really caring about them”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
