Conservative outsider De La Espriella appears headed to victory in Colombian presidential runoff

By Annie Correal

Abelardo De La Espriella, a criminal defense lawyer with no previous political experience, appeared headed for a razor-thin victory on Sunday in Colombia’s presidential election, in what would be a win for his fervent supporters, the global right and President Trump, who had endorsed him.

Abelardo De La Espriella

De La Espriella — who transformed himself from sharply dressed Miami lawyer to populist in a soccer jersey and a straw hat — won nearly 49.7 percent of the vote with more than 99 percent of the votes counted, according to preliminary results from the agency overseeing the election. Iván Cepeda, a leftist senator and a longtime human rights advocate received nearly 48.7 percent.

His victory would return Colombia to conservative rule after four years under Gustavo Petro, the country’s first leftist president. It also advances Latin America’s broader shift to the right in Trump’s second term.

As word of the results spread, Bogotá, the capital, exploded with the din of cheers, car horns and vuvuzelas. People rushed into the streets. President Gustavo Petro said online that the results were preliminary and that there was “no president” until the votes had been scrutinized, which is the usual process — but cries of “Out with Petro” filled the air.

De La Espriella, 47, ran a high-voltage campaign complete with machine-generated flames; A.I. videos of tigers, his mascot; and pounding anti-Petro chants that made him something like a celebrity.

He also vowed to “disembowel” the left in Colombia and has asked the Trump administration to target his political opponents, leading critics to call him an autocrat in the making.

The results, which were announced by the agency, revealed the highest voter turnout since Colombia put in place a two-round voting system more than three decades ago, and the closest margin between two candidates.

De La Espriella ran on a platform now popular among right-wing leaders across the region: He vowed to restore security amid crime concerns, rescue the country from what he portrayed as economic ruin created by the left, and crack down on corruption.

His campaign was stridently nationalistic, claiming the flag, the Colombian national soccer jersey and the patriotic slogan “Firme por la patria!” — “Standing firm for the homeland!”

It nevertheless borrowed ideas, and a deft social media strategy, from the iron-fisted leader of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, and from Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, two hugely popular figures in Latin America.

Like those leaders, De La Espriella adopted an aggressive tone. He promised to build megaprisons and to claw back the country from progressive politics and “gender ideology,” putting God and family first.

His vow to hunt down criminals and crush Colombia’s “narcoterrorists”— a term borrowed from Mr. Trump — resonated deeply with supporters while alarming those who opposed him, raising the specter of more bloodshed and authoritarianism.

“It sounds like a military regime,” said Andro Giovanny Camelo, a 44-year-old taxi driver in Bogotá.

Much of De La Espriella’s support came from the cities, not the remote rural areas where armed groups are fighting over cocaine-trafficking routes and illegal gold mines. But the candidate seized on fears of a return to the acute violence of decades past, when rebel groups laid bombs and kidnapped people even on the busy streets of the capital, Bogotá.

He also focused on widespread extortion by criminal groups, which has crippled small businesses.

Karlos Morales, a 28-year-old waiter who voted in the city of Barranquilla on Sunday, said that greater security would lead to more jobs and foreign investment, which suffered under President Petro.

“The left asked for an opportunity,” said Mr. Morales. “We haven’t seen very good results.”

Underscoring his security message, De La Espriella campaigned in a bulletproof vest, gave rally speeches from behind bulletproof glass, and denounced the violence of the campaign — including the killings of another conservative presidential hopeful and two of his own campaign workers.
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Credit: New York Times