Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella secured a narrow victory in Colombia’s presidential election on June 21, 2026, according to initial counts reported by the BBC that gave him 49.7 percent of the vote to 48.7 percent for leftist senator Iván Cepeda with more than 99 percent of ballots tallied. The Trump-backed lawyer and self-described outsider had pledged a military offensive against armed groups and drug traffickers, a stance that resonated in coastal regions where he drew strong support. Cepeda has declined to concede the razor-thin result while President Gustavo Petro questioned the preliminary tally and demanded an audit of voting systems.
The BBC reported that crowds in Barranquilla celebrated de la Espriella’s apparent win by donning Colombian football jerseys and waving national flags while chanting support for the president-elect and calling for Petro to leave office. Some supporters wore hats styled after those of Donald Trump voters but emblazoned with the slogan “Make Colombia Great Again.” One backer told the outlet, “We are tired of the killings in this country. And tired of the bureaucracy of this government. We have a president from the coast!” Another added, “We are proud of The Tiger. We hope he will change the country, to a new one where we can have jobs, and more security above everything.”
De la Espriella reacted to the initial results by stating, according to the BBC, “today begins a new stage for our country, a stage built on the free and democratic will of millions of citizens who chose to believe in a great, safe, prosperous Colombia full of opportunities.” The candidate, a criminal defense lawyer with no prior elected office who represented clients including Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro, has drawn comparisons to El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele over his hard-line security proposals. At rallies he and supporters have worn national football jerseys and performed military-style salutes, actions his critics have called politicisation of national symbols.
A BBC assessment found that Colombia’s internal armed conflict has intensified in recent years with membership in groups such as FARC dissidents, the ELN and the Clan del Golfo doubling over the past five years as they fight for control of cocaine routes and illegal mining. UNODC figures show potential cocaine production reached 2,664 metric tons in 2023, a 53 percent increase from 2022, while cultivation rose 10 percent to 253,000 hectares. ACLED data indicate that while incidents of armed groups targeting civilians fell in 2024, the number of people exposed to organized violence during the first 30 months of Petro’s administration rose 24 percent compared with the prior equivalent period.
Critics of Petro’s “total peace” negotiations with armed groups have said the approach allowed those organizations to expand during cease-fires, a point echoed in the BBC coverage of de la Espriella’s campaign. The president-elect has promised to end talks with illegal armed groups, deploy the military more aggressively in coordination with the United States, construct mega-prisons in jungle areas and shrink the state while reforming the health system. De la Espriella, a U.S. citizen since 2023 after years in Miami, received an endorsement from Trump, who wrote on Truth Social after the initial count, “He Won, BIG!” and earlier pledged that a de la Espriella government would have “the total support and strength of the United States behind him.”
The result forms part of a broader rightward shift across Latin America driven by security concerns, according to reporting by The New York Times and The Guardian. Argentina’s Javier Milei praised Colombians for choosing “economic freedom, prosperity, unwavering security, and telling organised transnational crime and drug trafficking ENOUGH ALREADY,” while Chile’s José Antonio Kast said “a new stage of freedom begins for Colombia that will allow them to recover security and prosperity.” Colombia has long been a close U.S. ally, although relations cooled under Petro because of disagreements over migration, tariffs and possible military involvement in the region.
