\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella claimed victory in Colombia\u2019s presidential runoff on Sunday after preliminary results showed him narrowly ahead of left-wing rival Iv\u00e1n Cepeda, with 49.6% of the vote.<\/p>\n
With nearly all ballots counted, De la Espriella led Cepeda by roughly 250,000 votes, according to electoral authorities.<\/p>\n
The wealthy lawyer and political outsider, known by supporters as El Tigre (\u201cThe Tiger\u201d), is set to take office on August 7 if the results are confirmed.<\/p>\n
Cepeda, who was backed by outgoing President Gustavo Petro \u2014 who was constitutionally barred from seeking reelection \u2014 acknowledged the preliminary outcome but urged caution, saying the official count had not yet been completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also announced plans to challenge votes cast in approximately 33,000 ballot boxes, more than a quarter of those used nationwide.<\/p>\n
Petro echoed those concerns in a post on X, arguing that \u201cno one can yet be declared president\u201d given the narrow margin between the candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly the official vote count\u201d can determine who will lead the country, he said.<\/p>\n
De la Espriella\u2019s victory Addressing supporters after the results were announced, De la Espriella called for national unity.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom this moment on, the election campaign, the slogans, the divisions and the political confrontations come to an end, and the supreme moment of service to the nation begins,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Speaking from behind bulletproof glass, he told Cepeda that he would have \u201call guarantees\u201d necessary to carry out the role of opposition leader, provided it remained \u201cwithin the legal framework.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, De la Espriella issued a warning against any attempts to incite unrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t even think about inciting violence; refrain from sowing terror,\u201d he said. \u201cMake no mistake, Mr. Cepeda. You already know how hard the tiger bites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tougher security De la Espriella campaigned on a sharp break with President Petro\u2019s security strategy, particularly the government\u2019s efforts to negotiate with armed groups as part of the peace process launched after the 2016 agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).<\/p>\n
Addressing supporters after the vote, the president-elect pledged a tougher approach to organized crime and insurgent groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo drug traffickers, terrorists, kidnappers, extortionists and corrupt officials who steal the people\u2019s resources, I am notifying you tonight that Colombia once again has a government,\u201d he said. \u201cAll those criminals will be relentlessly pursued under the laws of the Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrue peace does not come from impunity; true peace comes from justice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
During the campaign, De la Espriella proposed intensifying military operations against armed groups and adopting a more aggressive strategy against drug-trafficking, which is widely believed to be one of the principal sources of financing for guerrilla and criminal organizations.<\/p>\n
The right celebrates\u00a0 De la Espriella\u2019s victory marks a new chapter in South America\u2019s sharp turn to the right, after a decade of progressive governments in most of the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Keiko Fujimori is confirmed the winner of Peru\u2019s presidential run-off \u2014 after weeks of an unusually slow vote count \u2014 she and De la Espriella will join a growing list of right-wing leaders in South America, including Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei, Chile\u2019s Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast, Paraguay\u2019s Santiago Pe\u00f1a, Bolivia\u2019s Rodrigo Paz and Ecuador\u2019s Daniel Noboa.<\/p>\n
The only remaining left or progressive presidents in the region are Uruguay\u2019s Yamand\u00fa Orsi and Lula da Silva in Brazil, although the country will celebrate elections in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Venezuela\u2019s current leader Delcy Rodr\u00edguez was formerly part of socialist Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government, she has sided with United States President Donald Trump since Maduro was captured by the U.S. earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Colombia\u2019s election also reflected a trend seen across much of South America in recent years: increasingly polarized electorates and closely contested races between candidates from opposite ends of the political spectrum.<\/p>\n
President Javier Milei congratulated De la Espriella, saying that \u201cmost Colombians chose the path of economic freedom\u201d and declaring that \u201cthe lion and the tiger roar in Latin America,\u201d a reference to the two leaders\u2019 respective nicknames.<\/p>\n
Other right-wing leaders like Kast, Noboa and Venezuelan Mar\u00eda Corina Machado celebrated the result. \u201cHe Won, Big!\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night, referring to De la Espriella.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said he had spoken with the candidate to congratulate him and said that \u201cColombia\u2019s best days are ahead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Rubio wrote on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella claimed victory in Colombia\u2019s presidential runoff on Sunday after preliminary results showed him narrowly ahead of left-wing rival Iv\u00e1n Cepeda, with 49.6% of the vote. With nearly all ballots counted, De la Espriella led Cepeda by roughly 250,000 votes, according to electoral authorities. The wealthy lawyer and political outsider, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":80138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16589,585,17363,54,59,306],"tags":[18246,9859,17362,183,86,904],"class_list":["post-80137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-abelardo-de-la-espriella","category-colombia","category-colombia-elections","category-latin-america","category-politics","category-world","tag-abelardo-de-la-espriella","tag-colombia","tag-colombia-elections","tag-latin-america","tag-politics","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}