Trump-Backed Paramilitary Lawyer Wins Colombia Election

trump, colombia, elections, latin america

A US president publicly endorses a foreign candidate who represents paramilitary clients, then celebrates his narrow victory as though it were a personal win.

"He Won, BIG!"

— President Donald Trump, Truth Social, after Abelardo de la Espriella claimed Colombia's presidency

The American president posted three words to validate the outcome of a foreign election in a country he had no constitutional authority to influence. The candidate those three words endorsed has spent his career defending Colombia's most violent paramilitary commanders. He won by fewer than 251,000 votes in a nation of 50 million, and his opponent is already alleging irregularities.

This is not an exaggeration of American foreign policy. This is what it has become.

Abelardo de la Espriella, a 47-year-old criminal defense lawyer and self-styled "anti-establishment" outsider, claimed victory in Colombia's presidential runoff on Sunday night. With 99.99% of ballots counted, he held 49.66% of the vote to 48.70% for his left-wing opponent, Senator Iván Cepeda. The margin was so narrow that it represented roughly half the margin De la Espriella held after the first round three weeks earlier.

Translation: the closer Colombia looked at De la Espriella, the less sure it became that it wanted him.

De la Espriella rose to prominence as a criminal defense attorney whose client roster reads like a catalog of Colombia's darkest conflicts. He represented leaders of right-wing paramilitary groups, the private armies created by drug traffickers and landowners to fight left-wing guerrillas during the country's decades-long civil war. He also defended Alex Saab, a money launderer for Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela, and David Murcia Guzman, one of Colombia's most notorious fraudsters.

He called himself "El Tigre" (The Tiger). During the campaign, he spoke to crowds from behind bulletproof glass. He promised to kill criminals "like rats and cockroaches" and build 10 maximum-security "mega-prisons" in Colombia's jungle.

His campaign style drew comparisons to El Salvador's Nayib Bukele: the military salutes, the nationalist fervor, the youthful populism wrapped in the language of law and order. Supporters wore hats saying "Make Colombia Great Again" and donned the country's yellow football jersey at rallies.

But behind the aesthetics lay a more concrete connection to organized violence. De la Espriella's legal career was built on representing the very paramilitary structures that have never fully surrendered their grip on Colombian territory. More than 27,000 people belong to armed criminal organizations in Colombia today. The country remains the world's largest producer of cocaine. Violence reached its highest level since the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC.

What made De la Espriella's candidacy viable was not just domestic conditions. It was an endorsement from the White House.

Trump endorsed De la Espriella after the first round, saying the candidate would "stop illegal immigration, crack down on crime and drugs, and restore LAW AND ORDER." He followed up by promising De la Espriella the "total support and strength of the United States behind him."

After the preliminary results came in, Trump posted on Truth Social: "He Won, BIG!"

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called De la Espriella to congratulate him. "The Trump administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen our economic ties," Rubio wrote on X.

Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called it what it was: foreign interference. "Our country is split down the middle, and foreign interference is taking away our freedom," Petro wrote on X. He also refused to recognize the preliminary results, demanding an audit of voting software and alleging that some polling stations were "compromised." He offered no evidence.

Cepeda also declined to concede. His team announced it would challenge results from 33,000 polling stations. "We will not allow democracy to be violated," Cepeda said. No recount has ever flipped the result of a Colombian presidential election.

The political violence surrounding this election was not incidental. Cepeda had filed a complaint with the Colombian Attorney General's Office and the International Criminal Court against De la Espriella, accusing him of maintaining ties to paramilitary groups. The allegations formed one of the most serious accusations ever leveled between Colombian presidential candidates.

During the campaign, De la Espriella said he would "disembowel" the left. He later called it a figure of speech. He also vowed to make a complete break with Petro's "total peace" plan, which sought to negotiate the dismantling of all criminal groups through ceasefires. Analysts argue those ceasefires were exploited by armed factions to expand their territories.

Petro's government managed to disarm only one criminal group before the election, a group of just 99 members, accomplished on the same day Colombians went to the polls.

After the results, Cepeda supporters clashed with police in Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, burning American flags and facing tear gas. In Bogotá, hundreds gathered outside the country's largest polling station. The country appeared split almost exactly in half, with each side preparing for a long institutional fight over who controls the presidency.

De la Espriella is set to take office on August 7, if the official canvass confirms the preliminary results.

The broader significance extends far beyond Colombia. This election is part of a far-right wave across Latin America. Nasry Asfura recently won Honduras. José Antonio Kast took Chile. Keiko Fujimori is leading the vote count in Peru. Argentina's Javier Milei, Ecuador's Daniel Noboa, and Paraguay's Santiago Peña all congratulated De la Espriella.

When Petro leaves office in six weeks, only Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, and Guatemala will remain under left-wing governments in the region. Brazil holds its own election in October.

What unites these leaders is not just ideology. It is the explicit backing of the Trump White House. Each received his endorsement. Each was celebrated on Truth Social. Each was promised American support.

The question is no longer whether the United States influences foreign elections. The question is why it does so openly, and why the candidates it backs increasingly have no difficulty describing their own connection to organized violence as a selling point.

Trump posted three words after the count. The candidate those words elevated defended paramilitaries for a living. That is not interference by accident. That is interference by design.