Colombia

What To Expect From Colombia's New President

He ran a MAGA-style campaign in a nation beset by partisan violence. Will he make Colombia freer or more authoritarian?

Ari Shtein | 6.25.2026 5:00 PM

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(Camilo Moreno/Long Visual Press/Universal Images Group/Newscom)

On Wednesday, leftist Iván Cepeda conceded the Colombian presidential election to his opponent, Abelardo de la Espriella, putting another right-leaning populist in charge of a Latin American country.

De la Espriella, who won by a margin of less than 1 percent, ran a brash, MAGA-reminiscent (and MAGA-endorsed) campaign blending laissez faire economics with traditionalist machismo social policy and a commitment to crack down harshly on violent crime and drug smuggling.

De la Espriella's platform borrowed from other Latin American presidents, including Nayib Bukele of El Salvador—de la Espriella has promised to build mega-prisons just like his—and Javier Milei of Argentina—whose budget-slashing he has pledged to repeat in Colombia. Milei called himself "the lion." De la Espriella goes by "the tiger."

When his term begins on August 7, de la Espriella will be taking charge of a Colombian economy more dependent on the state than ever. Under the leadership of Gustavo Petro, the........

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