Colombia’s New President Pledges a Hard Line on Security and a Reset With Israel

Abelardo de la Espriella, a lawyer and businessman with no prior elected office, is poised to replace incumbent President Gustavo Petro after winning Colombia’s presidential runoff by a margin of less than 1%. With more than 99% of votes counted, he led leftist candidate Iván Cepeda, who has not yet conceded. The result points to a major political shift in Colombia and adds to a broader rightward trend in Latin America.

De la Espriella, 47, was born and raised on Colombia’s Caribbean coast and built his public profile as a criminal defense attorney in high-profile cases. His clients included Alex Saab, an associate of Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro, and businessman David Murcia Guzmán, described as one of Colombia’s biggest financial fraudsters. When asked about representing controversial figures, he said, “Ethics have nothing to do with the law,” adding that his role is to defend clients within the law.

His campaign centered on security. De la Espriella attacked Petro’s “total peace” policy, which relied on negotiations with armed groups, and promised to scrap it, launch a broad offensive against crime, expand cooperation with the U.S. military, build huge prisons, and intensify enforcement against drug trafficking and organized crime. He also ran as a close ally of Donald Trump, who endorsed him publicly and wrote on Truth Social after the early results, “He won. And by a lot.” He also received backing from Nayib Bukele, Javier Milei, Giorgia Meloni, and members of Jair Bolsonaro’s family.

On foreign policy, he wants to pull Bogotá back toward Washington and sharply reverse Petro’s approach to Israel. Petro cut diplomatic ties with Jerusalem and became one of Israel’s harshest critics in Latin America, while de la Espriella says he will restore full relations, renew political and security cooperation, and move Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem. He also sees Israel as a possible partner against armed groups and cartels.

Economically, he is promising lower taxes, smaller government, lighter regulation for business, and revived oil and gas projects frozen under Petro. But he enters office without congressional seats, meaning he will need support from traditional right-wing parties. He also faces Colombia’s long-running internal armed conflict, as new armed groups have replaced FARC in parts of the country.