BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) 鈥� Bombastic pro-Trump lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella pulled ahead in in the first round of elections over the weekend, capitalizing on a growing appetite for crackdowns on criminal groups across .
Second-place finisher, progressive Sen. Iv谩n Cepeda, and his ally, President , have questioned the election results, without providing evidence.
Cepeda on Monday called on de la Espriella to debate him ahead of their June 21 runoff. De la Espriella replied on X: 鈥淎re you ready, coward? 鈥� First, acknowledge the election results and let鈥檚 debate right now.鈥�
De la Espriella rapidly gained traction ahead of Sunday鈥檚 election and won nearly 44% of the vote. Cepeda, who had consistently led polling, won less than 41%.
In the runoff, De la Espriella is expected to scoop up additional votes from Colombians who supported other conservative candidates in the first round.
Cepeda will face an uphill battle, said Sergio Guzm谩n, a political analyst. De la Espriella’s win is “a shift in public opinion that is very difficult to overcome. So now Abelardo is emerging as the likely favorite to win.鈥�
Markets in Colombia and the Colombian peso jumped on Monday, likely a product of de la Espriella鈥檚 proposal to roll back regulations on businesses and willingness to open the country to fracking 鈥� a sharp turn from Petro鈥檚 environmental agenda.
A political shift in the Americas continues
The 47-year-old De la Espriella, known as 鈥淓l Tigre鈥� or 鈥淭he Tiger,鈥� has never held office in Colombia and prided himself on living a luxurious life in Italy before deciding to run for president.
He pitched himself as an outsider who would cozy up to U.S. President Donald Trump and follow El Salvador President , which has driven down homicide rates but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.
鈥淚 will wipe out narcoterrorism and those who I’ve declared a military target like cockroaches, like rats. I will unleash upon them the wrath of God never seen before,鈥� de la Espriella said in an interview with The Associated Press in the final stretch of the campaign, where he promised to open 10 mega-prisons to fight crime.
He joins a growing number of leaders across Latin America, from Chile to Honduras, seeking to latch onto the 鈥淏ukele model鈥� as voters across Latin America are aimed at addressing the root issues of conflict such as lack of opportunities for young people and corruption.
De la Espriella’s supporters come from a wide range of backgrounds. Yolanda Per茅z, a 64-year-old woman serving coffee in Colombia’s capital, Bogot谩, said with a wink the day before the election: 鈥淚’m thinking of voting for El Tigre.鈥�
Miguel Maheca, a 20-year-old first-time voter, flashed his ballot to his mother as he strolled out of the polling station on Sunday, saying with a grin, 鈥淟ove isn’t what’s going to make us safe in Colombia.”
But experts say El Salvador’s security successes will be nearly impossible to replicate in a country like Colombia, which is more than 50 times larger than the Central American nation and has many more armed groups fighting for territory.
The Trump administration is playing a more aggressive role in Latin America than any U.S. government in decades, putting mounting pressure on countries like Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador to crack down on crime.
De la Espriella made a name for himself as a lawyer defending high-profile clients such as former President 脕lvaro Uribe as well as controversial figures like Alex Saab, a close ally of Venezuela鈥檚 ousted president Nicol谩s Maduro who
Cepeda had vowed to carry on peace efforts
The progressive Cepeda has promised to carry on his ally Petro’s by negotiating peace pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs.
Their political movement was born from a rejection by many Colombians of a militarized offensive by Uribe in decades past to beat back guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Thousands of civilians were killed by Colombian forces in a scandal known as 鈥渇alse positives.鈥�
De la Espriella 鈥渞epresents a return to the paramilitary politics and drug-trafficking 鈥� a mafia-run, plutocratic and corrupt past that the country experienced during 脕lvaro Uribe鈥檚 two administrations,鈥� Cepeda said on Sunday.
Petro, a former rebel, won Colombia’s presidency in 2022, ending decades of domination by leaders from Uribe’s political movement. He gained massive support from rural-dwelling, Indigenous and poorer Colombians who felt they had never been directly spoken to by the country’s leaders.
Now that movement is backed into a corner.
鈥淭his is de la Espriella鈥檚 election to lose,鈥� wrote Renata Segura, director of International Crisis Group’s Latin America and the Caribbean Program. 鈥淐epeda thought he could win appealing squarely to the left, and that proved to be a massive mistake. How he pivots in the next month will determine if he has any chance to win.鈥�
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This version corrects the spelling of the first name of the leading candidate to Abelardo.
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