{"id":687852,"date":"2026-06-06T11:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/687852\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T11:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:51:09","slug":"colombian-far-right-candidate-is-latest-trumpian-latin-american-to-ride-anti-incumbent-wave-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/687852\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian far-right candidate is latest Trumpian Latin American to ride anti-incumbent wave | Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abelardo de la Espriella, the far-right lawyer who is leading the polls ahead of Colombia<\/a>\u2019s presidential runoff election, has marketed his rum, wine and menswear brands \u2013 as well as his novels and albums on which he croons popular classics \u2013 under the label \u201cDe la Espriella Style\u201d.<\/p>\n

But his shift from business suits to T-shirts, baseball caps and a meticulously trimmed beard suggest the influence of another style: that of El Salvador\u2019s populist autocrat Nayib Bukele.<\/p>\n

The similarities go further than appearances; like many<\/a> far-right politicians in Latin America, De la Espriella has also vowed to follow Bukele\u2019s mano dura (iron fist) approach against crime: the Salvadorian leader has imprisoned at least 2% of his country\u2019s adult population as part of a controversial crackdown on gangs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella has promised to end Colombia\u2019s decades-long armed conflict in just 90 days, building private \u201cmega-prisons\u201d and \u201cwiping out\u201d criminals \u201clike cockroaches and rats<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

On 21 June, he will face<\/a> the leftwing senator Iv\u00e1n Cepeda in the runoff<\/a>. Backed by the current president, Gustavo Petro, Cepeda advocates continuing the current government\u2019s \u201ctotal peace\u201d plan of negotiating the dismantling of all criminal groups, which has so far failed<\/a> to stem rising levels of violence.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella is a criminal lawyer<\/a> with a lavish lifestyle<\/a> who has never held public office, gives military salutes despite never having served in the armed forces and has filed more than 100 lawsuits<\/a> against journalists. Analysts interpret his lead in the polls as the latest example of a wave of far-right admirers of Bukele and Donald Trump who have been winning elections across Latin America in recent years.<\/p>\n

While comparisons to Bukele are the most obvious, De la Espriella appears to have taken notes from each of his neighbours\u2019 playbooks.<\/p>\n

Following Trump, who this week granted<\/a> him his \u201ccomplete and total endorsement\u201d, the lawyer delivers speeches exclusively behind bulletproof glass and has promised to sink vessels suspected of being used for drug trafficking \u2013 echoing the US airstrikes<\/a> that have recently killed more than 200<\/a> people the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n

Echoing Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei, De la Espriella has promised to adopt a \u201cchainsaw\u201d<\/a> austerity plan of deep cuts to federal spending (although not to military spending); copying Ecuador\u2019s Daniel Noboa, he intends to embrace the use of states of emergency to crack down<\/a> on gangs; and, inspired by Brazil\u2019s Bolsonaro family, he has turned Colombia\u2019s national football shirt into a symbol of the far right<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But according to Tiziano Breda, a senior analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean at the NGO Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (Acled), De la Espriella has clearly modelled himself on El Salvador\u2019s self-styled \u201cworld\u2019s coolest dictator\u201d. \u201cHe wants to be a Bukele,\u201d said the analyst.<\/p>\n

But hoping to become Bukele and actually becoming him are two different things, Breda said, noting that, unlike the Salvadorian autocrat, who has a grip on his congress<\/a>, De la Espriella \u2013 whose party will hold only four of the Colombian senate\u2019s 108 seats and just one of the lower house\u2019s 188 seats \u2013 \u201cwould not have the legislative majority that allowed Bukele to dismantle the rule of law and concentrate power in the executive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even so, Breda believes the lawyer\u2019s election could pose risks to Colombian democracy, as he has shown little regard<\/a> for democratic checks and balances \u2013 or for human rights in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fear that security operations could become more lethal, with little impact on armed groups but serious consequences in terms of retaliation and civilian exposure to the conflict,\u201d said the analyst, who recently published a report<\/a> showing that US pressure<\/a> on Latin American and Caribbean countries to embrace the so-called \u201cwar on drugs\u201d drove an 18% increase in clashes between security forces and armed groups in 2025 \u2013 something he believes could intensify under De la Espriella.<\/p>\n

Breda said that, more than a far-right groundswell, De la Espriella\u2019s lead is part of an \u201canti-incumbent wave\u201d that is removing from power leftwing presidents who, when elected four or five years ago, were themselves seen as part of a so-called leftist \u201cpink tide\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there is also, he added, a \u201cgeneral dissatisfaction towards the political party system\u201d, which tends to favour candidates who present themselves as \u201coutsiders\u201d, as well as increasing pressure from the US, which is \u201cmaking clear that closer ideological alignment to Washington comes with rewards, such as economic assistance<\/a> in Argentina or security cooperation<\/a> in Ecuador\u201d.<\/p>\n

Colombia is one of the few Latin American countries still governed by the left, alongside Mexico, Uruguay and Brazil.<\/p>\n

Peru, now under an interim president, will hold its runoff<\/a> on Sunday between the far-right Keiko Fujimori and the leftwing Roberto S\u00e1nchez. Brazil will hold elections in October, in which the incumbent, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, will face<\/a> the far-right senator Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro. Last week, Fl\u00e1vio held a video call<\/a> with De la Espriella.<\/p>\n

The lawyer has secured the endorsement of the third-place candidate, Paloma Valencia, as well as Trump.<\/p>\n

In Argentina, the US president\u2019s endorsement \u2013 and his threat to withdraw a promised bailout \u2013 were seen as decisive in securing a win for Milei\u2019s party<\/a> in Argentina\u2019s midterm elections last year, although the White House\u2019s backing recently failed<\/a> to help Viktor Orb\u00e1n secure re-election in Hungary.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cepeda\u2019s first steps towards winning over voters were to initially amplify Petro\u2019s allegations of electoral fraud<\/a>, which have already been widely debunked<\/a>, and to criticise<\/a> De la Espriella\u2019s use of the national football shirt.<\/p>\n

The political analyst Gabriel Cifuentes said that Petro was \u201cdoing considerable damage to Cepeda\u201d by acting as \u201chis campaign chief\u201d<\/a>, even though electoral law prohibits a sitting president from openly participating in campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cCepeda\u2019s campaign has made clear that it will not challenge Petro, but by failing to distance itself from him, they\u2019re alienating important centrist sectors that see each of the president\u2019s interventions as an authoritarian gesture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n