{"id":1517025,"date":"2026-06-22T03:11:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T08:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1517025"},"modified":"2026-06-22T03:11:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T08:11:04","slug":"trump-backed-de-la-espriella-holds-razor-thin-lead-in-colombias-election-as-rival-challenges-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1517025","title":{"rendered":"Trump-backed de la Espriella holds razor-thin lead in Colombia’s election as rival challenges vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
A voter marks his ballot in a classroom decorated with flags of countries participating in the World Cup serving as a polling station during the presidential runoff election in Santander de Quilichao, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo\/Santiago Saldarriaga)<\/figcaption><\/figure>BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) \u2014 Political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella held a razor-thin lead in Colombia\u2019s presidential election with nearly all the votes counted Sunday, in a runoff vote marked by people\u2019s fears of a renewed internal conflict.<\/p>\n

A victory by de la Espriella would effectively be an indictment of the policies of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, whose prot\u00e9g\u00e9 had promised to continue his agenda if he defeated his rival.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella, a business owner and lawyer who earned U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s endorsement despite never having run for office, led progressive lawmaker Iv\u00e1n Cepeda taking 49.7% of the votes, with 99.9% of the results released by electoral authorities. Cepeda, Petro\u2019s ally, earned 48.7% support. Election officials have not formally announced a winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appear before you tonight to announce the most important news of my life: the Colombian people have entrusted me with the supreme honor of serving them as their next president of the Republic of Colombia,\u201d de la Espriella told thousands of supporters as he stood behind bulletproof glass in the northern city of Barranquilla. \u201cI will govern for all Colombians \u2026 there will be no retaliation, no persecution, because in a democracy there are no irreconcilable enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cepeda told supporters that his campaign considers the count \u201cunofficial and non-binding\u201d and that his team will challenge results from more than 30,000 voting stations. No recount has flipped the results of a presidential election in Colombian history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not allow … the rollback of the social gains we have achieved,\u201d Cepeda said. \u201cWe will not allow democracy to be violated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petro also vowed to challenge the outcome.<\/p>\n

Both candidates pitched voters widely different strategies to prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements, that Colombians lived with in previous decades.<\/p>\n

Sunday’s winner will begin a four-year term Aug. 7.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella promises tough-on-crime approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

De la Espriella, 47, promised a heavy-handed approach to crime-fighting, including drug trafficking. He also said he plans to end Petro\u2019s attempts to establish parallel peace negotiations with multiple armed groups \u2014 an effort that has largely failed \u2014 and build mega-prisons, emulating Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s aggressive policies. Those tactics have lowered homicide rates in the Central American country but have fueled accusations of human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella, nicknamed \u201cThe Tiger,\u201d holds dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship. He’s a Trump supporter and a member of the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had an armed conflict and a drug trafficking problem for too long, and this has greatly polarized the country,\u201d retired economist V\u00edctor Duque, 72, said while wearing a national soccer team jersey at a voting center in the capital, Bogota. \u201cI believe it is one of the most important elections that has taken place in Colombia this century.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Presidents Javier Milei of Argentina and Daniel Noboa of Ecuador were among the first political leaders to congratulate de la Espriella.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen our economic ties,\u201d Rubio said on X. \u201cColombia\u2019s best days are ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe Won, BIG!\u201d Trump later said on his social media platform.
\nVoters seek change<\/p>\n

In the first round, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella garnered 44%, according to official results. Petro, without evidence, sowed doubts in the results after Cepeda, who had consistently led polls ahead of the May vote, did not win outright and even finished behind de la Espriella.<\/p>\n

Yolanda Hern\u00e1ndez, 49, voted early Sunday before she started selling black-ink pens outside a Bogota voting center. Clients, she said, buy the pens because ink cannot be erased from paper ballots, which reduces the possibility of fraud.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez, who recycles trash for a living, voted for Petro in 2022, but cast her ballot for de la Espriella this time. While she acknowledged that Petro was unable to deliver on promises meant to help the poor because of congressional gridlock, she said Colombia cannot afford another four years under his vision for the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want change in Colombia because it\u2019s always the same violence, always the same thing,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201c(Petro) said he was going to lower the cost of services, that he was going to lower the price of food, and everything is more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

People in the streets of Bogota yelled \u201cPetro out! Petro out!\u201d and honked car horns as results became public.
\nFighting between rebel groups plagues the nation<\/p>\n

Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Sunday\u2019s result shows the country \u201chas not shifted overwhelmingly or decisively\u201d against Petro\u2019s project or for de la Espriella\u2019s outsider \u201ciron fist showmanship.\u201d Freeman added that the result also underscored Colombia\u2019s regional divisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s regional not just ideological polarization; or rather, the two overlapping,\u201d he said. \u201cIronically, de la Espriella\u2019s iron fist message performed best in the core of the country, not the periphery, which bears the brunt of Colombia\u2019s violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that had offered hope to break the nation\u2019s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government.<\/p>\n

But violence has since roared back, particularly as most rebel groups abandoned their ideologically driven fight for the financial benefits of drug trafficking. Colombia\u2019s illegal groups have more than 27,000 members.<\/p>\n

Last year, authorities recorded 14,780 homicides, the most since at least 2015 and driven by clashes among illegal armed groups. Among those killed was conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe. Extortions have also soared, reaching 13,417 cases in 2025, more than double the number tallied in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) \u2014 Political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella held a razor-thin lead in Colombia\u2019s presidential election with nearly all the votes counted Sunday, in a runoff vote marked by people\u2019s fears of a renewed internal conflict. A victory by de la Espriella would effectively be an indictment of the policies of outgoing President … Continue reading Trump-backed de la Espriella holds razor-thin lead in Colombia’s election as rival challenges vote<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1517026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1504],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-world-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-24 03:10:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1517025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517027,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517025\/revisions\/1517027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1517026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1517025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1517025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1517025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}