It is another sweltering afternoon in Washington, and the room at the Atlantic Council is filling with businessmen and diplomats for a speech already ten minutes late. José Manuel Restrepo, Colombia’s vice-president-elect and a former finance minister, is no stranger to the venue: since last fall he has been a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. But the think-tank polish sits on top of a crisis back home.

In June, the right-wing outsider Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia’s presidency by a whisker – some 250,000 votes out of 26 million – beating the chosen candidate of the outgoing president, Gustavo Petro. 

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Petro, the country’s first leftist leader and a former guerrilla, has refused to accept the result. He alleges “algorithm manipulation” and, early on, blamed the State of Israel – a foe since he broke off relations over Gaza – for his man’s defeat. International........

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