Colombia’s political pendulum swings proper as de la Espriella is sworn in : NPR
Colombia’s President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella speaks throughout a press convention in Bogota, Colombia, July 30, 2026.
John Vizcaino/AP
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John Vizcaino/AP
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s new president might be sworn into workplace Friday amid tight safety measures geared toward stopping protests and potential assaults by insurgent teams.
Abelardo de la Espriella, an outspoken conservative who has been praised by President Trump, has promised to confront insurgent teams in Colombia with larger navy pressure whereas slicing authorities spending to scale back a funds deficit that doubled underneath outgoing President Gustavo Petro.
De la Espriella, a former prison protection lawyer who ran as a political outsider, is breaking with custom by holding his inauguration ceremony in Cali slightly than the capital, Bogotá. The 48-year-old selected the southwestern metropolis, which has been hit arduous by drug violence and assaults from insurgent teams, as the location of his swearing-in.
Some 11,000 troops have been deployed to town to make sure the protection of the brand new president and the roughly dozen heads of state attending the inauguration.
These anticipated to attend embrace Argentina’s Javier Milei, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa and Chile’s José Antonio Kast, alongside U.S. Appearing Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and King Felipe VI of Spain.
Drones have been banned, and privately owned autos is not going to be allowed on metropolis roads throughout Inauguration Day.
“One of many elementary priorities of my authorities might be to exert management of our territory,” de la Espriella stated in a speech earlier this week. “If we do not management our cities and our rural areas, this nation will lose its sovereignty.”
Over the previous 4 years, drug gangs and insurgent teams linked to a long time of political battle in Colombia have grow to be more and more highly effective in rural areas, the place they extort native companies and revenue from actions resembling unlawful mining and the drug commerce.
Petro, a progressive, tried to barter peace agreements with many of those teams underneath a technique generally known as “Whole Peace”. However critics say the technique failed, with some armed teams utilizing ceasefires granted by the federal government to rearm, regroup and develop their management over rural communities.
De la Espriella has stated he’ll finish peace talks with Colombia’s insurgent teams and confront them with larger navy pressure.
The rich lawyer, who has by no means held elected workplace, helps a more durable strategy to crime that features constructing massive prisons and utilizing aerial spraying and drones to destroy unlawful coca crops, a apply Colombia halted greater than a decade in the past due to environmental issues.
Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst on the Worldwide Disaster Group, stated that with de la Espriella, “the pendulum swings again to the appropriate” after 4 years of a left-leaning administration that struggled to attain leads to negotiations with armed teams.
She stated elevated navy stress may assist weaken insurgent teams and encourage some fighters to demobilize, however fully ending the opportunity of future talks might be counterproductive.
“We’re speaking a few battle that has an estimated 27,000 people concerned in numerous armed and prison teams,” Dickinson stated. “These people will want a route again into regular life.”
De la Espriella received Colombia’s presidential election by about 250,000 votes, defeating left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda by roughly one proportion level.
He’s the most recent conservative chief elected in Latin America as voters more and more concentrate on crime and safety issues.
Proper-wing leaders have lately received elections in Peru, Chile and Ecuador, reflecting a conservative shift in components of South America.
These politicians have sought nearer alignment with the Trump administration on points resembling immigration and anti-drug insurance policies.
De la Espriella has expressed assist for the Trump administration’s controversial marketing campaign of militarly strikes towards vessels suspected of carrying medication within the Caribbean and jap Pacific, during which greater than 200 folks have been killed.
He’s additionally anticipated to hurry up the extradition of insurgent leaders needed in the US on drug expenses. He has begun aligning Colombia’s international coverage with Washington by slicing diplomatic ties with Cuba and restoring relations with Israel.
Domestically, de la Espriella has stated he needs to chop authorities spending by as a lot as 40% to scale back the rising funds deficit. He has already introduced plans to shut 14 Colombian embassies in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
However de la Espriella should construct a majority in Colombia’s fragmented Congress if he needs to push by deeper reforms, stated Sergio Guzmán, a political analyst in Bogotá.
The brand new president additionally faces opposition from Petro, who has refused to acknowledge the election outcome and claimed, with out offering credible proof, that the vote depend was rigged.
Guzmán stated the fraud allegations may gasoline protests towards de la Espriella’s authorities amongst Colombians who’re already involved that his anti-crime insurance policies may result in human rights abuses by safety forces.
“Petro goes to be a relentless nuisance for De la Espriella,” Guzmán stated. “However I believe De la Espriella is prepared for a struggle with Petro, each rhetorically and doubtlessly on the streets.
