He calls himself El Tigre, the tiger, and he wants to put things in order in Colombia with a far-right and tough policy. Abelardo De la Espriella (47) almost certainly achieved a narrow victory in the second and decisive round of the presidential elections on Sunday evening local time. De La Espriella has radical plans for the South American country with more than 53 million inhabitants.
With US President Trump as an ally, he promises to remove Colombia from a spiral of violence. Who is this new president who until recently was completely unknown to most Colombians?
De La Espriella had a completely different life a year ago. He was a criminal lawyer and became a millionaire as a businessman with successful rum companies and his own men’s clothing line in Colombia and the United States. Until a few years ago, he lived in Miami with his four children and wife and led a luxurious lifestyle. Until right-wing presidential candidate Miguel Uribe was shot during a campaign rally last year and died two months later. Then De La Espriella decided to return to Colombia and join his political party Defenders of the PatriaDefenders of the homeland, to run for president and participate in elections.
Spiral of violence
De La Espriella presents himself as an ‘outsider’ to the established order. As someone with no political experience, but with great promises about a tough approach to the increasing violence in Colombia. Although peace was officially concluded between the government and the guerrilla movement FARC in 2016 after fifty years of civil war, the country has entered a spiral of violence in recent years and numerous guerrilla groups and drug criminals are active.
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De La Espriella quickly became popular with flamboyant media appearances: during his campaign he profiled himself as macho and at the same time as a close-knit family man. Deeply religious, but with a militaristic disposition. He managed to rise to the center of power in a short time.
Just like his role model, Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, he wants to build a mega prison, ten of them in the jungle to lock up guerrillas and drug criminals. Within ninety days – he promised in the campaign – he wants to dismantle the largest cartels, including by bombing drug camps in the jungle.
US President Donald Trump recently openly expressed his support and admiration for De la Espriella and congratulated him before the official results were known. De la Espriella wants cooperation between the two countries and the joint war on drugs as it was carried out for decades.
Although this is legally very difficult, De La Espriella also wants to revise the peace agreement with the FARC. He thinks that is too lenient for the former guerrilla group. For example, he wants to get rid of a Truth Commission that was established to reconcile the country and integration projects for former FARC fighters.
Further to the right
Abelardo de La Espriella was born in Bogota but grew up in the Caribbean province of Córdoba in a wealthy family of Italian and Lebanese roots. Córdoba is known for the paramilitaries that were active here. These armed groups were founded by large landowners to fight left-wing guerrillas, but also committed a lot of terror among the rural population. They were also involved in drug trafficking.
After studying law, De la Espriella became a criminal lawyer where he had several controversial clients, including former president Álvaro Uribe, who was allegedly involved in the creation of paramilitary groups in the 1990s.
With this new Colombian president, Latin America is moving further to the right. Previously, right-wing governments came to power in recent years in countries such as Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina. What these countries have in common is that their presidents are all supported by Trump. He sees Latin America as his backyard and wants to strengthen his influence here.
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