On Sunday, Colombia voted to make Abelardo de la Esprilla president-elect of the country. He defeated leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda in the narrowest runoff election in Colombian electoral history.
For those who may be unaware, de la Espriella is an especially heinous candidate. He’s pledged to destroy the administrative state, open a Colombian embassy in Jerusalem and include Israel in its security planning, “gut” his leftist opposition, abandon any peace plan with militant groups, pledged to frack for oil as much as possible and says he’ll open El Salvador-esque mega prisons in the jungle. He’s an American citizen and lawyer whose clients include narco traffickers. De la Espriella has even openly discussed how he used to explode cats with fireworks. No, I’m not kidding.
And yet, he won, albeit with the narrowest of margins. So, what explains his victory? What is the context of Colombia’s political predicament that makes de la Espriella’s ascent possible? How could a political newcomer with enormous ethical baggage somehow still capture enough of the electorate?
To that end, this video is my best assessment of what pushed de la Espriella to victory, what this means for the rightward turn of Latin America, why this is a major gift to the Trump administration, why de la Espriella will nevertheless encounter a ferocious left resistance in ways Nayib Bukele in El Salvador never did and much, much more.
