In Colombia, the election of right-leaning candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, who received public support from U.S. President Donald Trump, as the next president is effectively considered certain. A lawyer with no political experience, he is seen as a rising figure in the far-right camp in Latin America who sparked a whirlwind by declaring a war on crime.
In the Colombian presidential runoff held on the 21st (local time), Espriella won 49.65% with 99.9% of ballots counted in the electoral authority's quick tally, leading left-leaning candidate Iván Cepeda Castro, who received 48.70%. Influential daily El Tiempo and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Espriella's election was effectively confirmed.
Earlier, in the first round of the presidential election on the 31st, Espriella won 43.7%, producing the biggest upset in Colombia's political scene. Surpassing Cepeda, who had led various polls for months, to take first place, he quickly emerged as a presidential contender.
Born in 1978 to a wealthy family in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, Espriella made a name for himself as a criminal defense attorney. He gained fame by defending paramilitary leaders, members of drug organizations, and defendants in financial fraud cases, and on that basis amassed a large fortune. He is also known for using a private jet and favoring custom-made Italian suits. He is said to currently split his time between Miami in the United States and Florence in Italy. According to the French daily Le Monde, he was recognized as an Italian national in 2023 and acquired U.S. citizenship in 2024.
He calls himself "tiger (Tigre)." Tiger imagery appears at campaign rallies, and supporters cheer with military-style salutes. Le Monde assessed that Espriella is building a "strong leader" image by vowing to crack down hard on criminal organizations, drug cartels, and corrupt politicians. During the campaign, however, he emphasized a down-to-earth image by wearing a national soccer team jersey and a baseball cap instead of a suit.
Espriella in particular is actively adopting the platforms of hard-right politicians sweeping Latin America. Like El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who is credited with restoring public safety by incarcerating criminals on a massive scale, he pledged to build an ultra-large prison, and, modeling himself after Argentina President Javier Milei, he proposed cutting 700,000 public servants and shrinking the size of government.
He is also actively highlighting his ties with President Trump. Trump recently publicly endorsed Espriella, and Espriella said he would model the United States' anti-drug policy and even consider airstrikes on drug trafficking organizations. For this reason, local media sometimes call him the "Trump of Colombia," Le Monde reported.
Political analysts see Espriella's rise as an extension of the right-wing populist wave spreading across Latin America. Following former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, Bukele of El Salvador, and Milei of Argentina, a hard-right leader is also rising in Colombia, they say.
However, controversy over the election results is expected to continue for the time being. With the gap between the two candidates under 1 percentage point, Cepeda's camp is claiming there were problems in parts of the vote count and is demanding a recount. As a result, there is a possibility of continued legal and political wrangling over the results until the final winner is officially confirmed.
If Espriella's victory is ultimately confirmed, Colombia will return to a right-wing government four years after the launch of President Petro's leftist administration in 2022. The next president will be inaugurated on Aug. 7.