Conservative candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, has won the presidential runoff election in Colombia. His victory deals a hard blow to the Algeria-backed polisario militias who were supported by outgoing leftist President Gustavo Petro.
The enemies of Morocco’s territorial integrity were counting on the support of Colombia at the UN Security Council as Bogota has secured lately a non-permanent member seat at the premier global body responsible for maintaining international peace and security.
But all their hopes were dashed when far-right political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella defeated Petro’s ally, Iván Cepeda, by a razor-thin margin to win Colombia’s presidential runoff, in an election that will usher in new policies that will reverse the country’s decades-long leftist agenda.
With 99.99% of ballots counted in the preliminary vote tally, de la Espriella, a business owner and lawyer who earned Trump’s endorsement despite never having run for office, had secured 12.96 million votes, or 49.66%, just 250,830 more than the leftist senator Iván Cepeda, who received 12.7 million votes, or 48.7%. A further 1.6% of ballots were cast blank.
The margin was narrower than in the first round three weeks ago, when De la Espriella had beaten Cepeda by 673,000 votes. De la Espriella’s victory marks a sharp swing back to the right after four years under Colombia’s first and only leftwing president, Gustavo Petro, who was barred by the constitution from seeking re-election and therefore backed Cepeda as his successor.
US secretary of state, Marco Rubio has congratulated De la Espriella, saying “the Trump administration looks forward to working closely with incoming Colombian administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States and strengthen our economic ties.” he wrote.
U.S. Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar said: “To solve Colombia’s problems, we need to build a very close alliance with the US, which is not only our main trading partner but also our most important strategic ally in the fight against organized crime.”
Other Trump-endorsed leaders in Latin America congratulated the Colombian millionaire on his victory, including Argentina’s Javier Milei, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, Chile’s Kast and Paraguay’s Peña, as well as Fujimori, who is leading the vote count in Peru.
When Petro leaves office in about six weeks, only Mexico, Brazil – which will hold elections in October – Uruguay and Guatemala will remain under leftwing governments in the region.
