{"id":21253,"date":"2026-06-01T19:19:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/trump-acolyte-leftist-icon-who-will-be-colombias-next-leader\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:19:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:19:52","slug":"trump-acolyte-leftist-icon-who-will-be-colombias-next-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/trump-acolyte-leftist-icon-who-will-be-colombias-next-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump acolyte, leftist icon: Who will be Colombia\u2019s next leader?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BOGOTÁ, May 31 — A right-wing millionaire lawyer who vows an iron fist on narco gangs and a leftist philosopher-turned-senator have made it through to a June 21 runoff to see who will be Colombia’s next president.<\/p>\n

‘The Tiger’ <\/strong><\/p>\n

Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, is a millionaire lawyer and businessman who said he entered politics to prevent Colombia from being “destroyed” by the left.<\/p>\n

He holds US President Donald Trump, Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele in high esteem.<\/p>\n

Sporting impeccable suits and, more recently, a bulletproof vest, his legal career saw him defend prominent Colombian figures including drug traffickers and soccer stars.<\/p>\n

Before launching his presidential bid, De la Espriella lived in Florence, Italy, where he dabbled in opera, jetted around in private planes and promoted his rum and wine businesses.<\/p>\n

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To combat drug cartels in Colombia, the world’s biggest cocaine producer, De la Espriella proposes a military alliance with the United States and Israel and the construction of mega-prisons, while also defending the right to carry weapons.<\/p>\n

“Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down as the law allows,” he told AFP in an interview in February.<\/p>\n

Branding himself “The Tiger,” the candidate has a penchant for swearing and is known for his hot temper.<\/p>\n

He called for the Colombian left to be “gutted,” but later toned down his language.<\/p>\n

He has also made remarks considered homophobic and sexist and frequently refers to his “balls.”<\/p>\n

Survivor <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ivan Cepeda first appeared in public in 1994, in his early 30s, next to the corpse of his father, a communist senator who was assassinated by paramilitaries.<\/p>\n

Standing in front of a bullet-riddled truck, his call for justice was televised.<\/p>\n

“Let this crime not go unpunished,” Cepeda told reporters in a measured tone, during a period of persecution that saw more than 5,700 leftist leaders killed.<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old has previously lived in exile in the former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba and France.<\/p>\n

Returning to Colombia, he advocated for armed conflict victims and played a key role in the historic 2016 peace accord, which led to the disarmament of the rebel army FARC—formerly the country’s largest armed group.<\/p>\n

His adversaries accuse him of having ties to FARC and reproach him for having devised outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan.<\/p>\n

“I have survived genocide, stigmatization and relentless persecution. And here I am, still standing,” he said during the campaign.<\/p>\n

Typically wearing a traditional Caribbean shirt, Cepeda forgoes a tie, which he considers a symbol of oligarchy.<\/p>\n

The senator led the investigation into former president Uribe’s ties with paramilitaries before it went to court, where Uribe became the first Colombian leader to be convicted of a crime last year.<\/p>\n

Although a judge later overturned the ruling, the incident established Cepeda as the right-wing leader’s main political enemy and an icon of the left. — AFP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump acolyte, leftist icon: Who will be Colombia’s next leader?<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOGOTÁ, May 31 — A right-wing millionaire lawyer who vows an iron fist on narco gangs and a leftist philosopher-turned-senator have made it through to a June 21 runoff to see who will be Colombia’s next president. ‘The Tiger’  Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, is a millionaire lawyer and businessman who said he entered politics…<\/p>\n

Read More “Trump acolyte, leftist icon: Who will be Colombia\u2019s next leader?”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}