BOGOTÁ — The numbers were tight. The mood was uglier. And when the final votes were counted Sunday night, Colombia had a new president: Abelardo De La Espriella, a far-right lawyer who turned his campaign into a Trump tribute act and somehow made it work.
De La Espriella, 52, beat centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo by just 1.2 points — 50.6% to 49.4% — in a runoff that exposed a country split down the middle. The margin was so narrow that Fajardo didn't concede until Monday morning, after election observers confirmed no funny business.
But here's what's actually terrifying: De La Espriella won by promising to dismantle the 2016 peace deal with FARC rebels, crush crime with an iron fist, and turn Colombia into the next Israel of Latin America. And he's got Donald Trump's blessing.
The Trump Playbook, Colombian Style
If you squinted during De La Espriella's rallies, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd stumbled into a MAGA event. Same red hats, same bashing of the "deep state," same promises to "drain the swamp." He even adopted Trump's signature slogan, "Make Colombia Great Again."
"The establishment has stolen your future," he thundered at his final rally in Medellín. "I am your voice, your fist, your vengeance."
The crowd ate it up. Because here's the thing: Colombians are sick of the same old shit. The peace deal brought a fragile calm, but it also brought waves of ex-FARC fighters turning into criminal gangs. The economy is a mess. And the political class looks like a bunch of out-of-touch elites who couldn't find a problem they couldn't ignore.
De La Espriella didn't just notice this — he weaponized it. He promised to rebuild the military, send troops back into the jungles, and scrap a peace process that, in his words, "rewarded terrorists."
"He's going to bring order back to this country," said Maria Botero, a 34-year-old shopkeeper in Bogotá. "Maybe it won't be pretty, but at least it's something."
The Peace Deal's Funeral
The most immediate casualty of a De La Espriella presidency is likely the 2016 peace accord, which ended 52 years of civil war. The deal was already on life support — barely implemented, constantly attacked by conservatives. Now someone's about to pull the plug.
De La Espriella has vowed to renegotiate the terms, which means reducing amnesty for former rebels and restoring the military's ability to bomb FARC dissidents. He's also threatened to remove the special jurisdiction that was set up to prosecute war crimes, calling it "a safe haven for murderers."
Human rights groups are in full panic mode. "This is a disaster for transitional justice," said Ana Maria Rodríguez of Amnesty International. "De La Espriella is not interested in peace — he's interested in revenge."
But here's what the critics don't get: many Colombians agree with him. The peace deal was deeply unpopular in rural areas, where ex-combatants were seen as getting off easy while victims got nothing. De La Espriella tapped into that anger with surgical precision.
Trump, Bolsonaro, and the New Right
De La Espriella's victory is the latest in a string of far-right wins across the Americas. Trump endorsed him early, calling him "a real fighter" on Twitter. Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro sent congratulations. The international right-wing echo chamber is buzzing.
"This isn't just a Colombian story," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue. "It's part of a broader rejection of the liberal order. People are tired of nuance. They want strongmen."
De La Espriella is happy to play the part. He's promised to declare a state of emergency on day one, giving him sweeping powers to combat crime and crack down on protests. He's also vowed to pull out of the International Criminal Court and deepen ties with the United States — Trump's United States, specifically.
"The establishment has stolen your future. I am your voice, your fist, your vengeance."
His critics call him a fascist. He calls himself a "patriot." And nearly 10 million Colombians voted for him.
What Comes Next
The next few weeks will be chaos. De La Espriella takes office August 7, but he's already naming his cabinet: all hardliners, all loyalists, no centrists. He's planning to appoint retired generals to key security posts and has hinted that his attorney general will be someone who "understands the value of law and order."
The market, surprisingly, rallied on the news. Investors love a strongman who promises stability. But the cost will be heavy: expect a surge in human rights violations, a crackdown on the press, and a deepening of the class divide.
Colombia's once vibrant peace movement is in mourning. But here's the thing — they shouldn't be surprised. The peace deal was a fragile thing, built on hope and foreign money. It never had deep roots. And when a country is hurting, it doesn't want a handshake. It wants a fist.
De La Espriella is that fist. And he just punched his way into power.
