Abelardo de la Espriella has defended high-profile, controversial figures, including an ally of Nicolás Maduro
The leading opposition candidate in this year’s Colombian election is a fiery criminal defence lawyer known for speaking out in defence of paramilitaries, as well as representing a fraudster and a close associate of ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. After representing high-profile and often controversial figures, Abelardo de la Espriella, a well-coiffed 47-year-old who calls himself El Tigre (“the tiger”), has fashioned himself as the tough-on-crime candidate in the May vote. He is also pledging to end Colombia’s foray into leftist politics that began under erratic outgoing leader Gustavo Petro in 2022. “Colombia isn’t heading into a normal election but a choice between freedom and tyranny, between order and chaos,” de la Espriella told the FT in an interview in his law firm’s lavish office in Barranquilla, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. “I represent the authority that Colombia needs to reach the place of greatness that it deserves.” Petro, a former guerrilla who has revelled in public spats with President Donald Trump and churned through dozens of cabinet ministers, cannot seek a second term under the country’s constitution. After toying with a reform to allow re-election, he has instead backed the candidacy of leftist senator Iván Cepeda.
Already a well-known figure in Colombia from his defence work and media appearances, de la Espriella used his platform to launch a political movement named “Defenders of the Homeland”. His hardline message on security has caught fire with voters, after a sharp increase in extortion and kidnapping cases during Petro’s four-year presidency. With no formal party structure behind him, de la Espriella has surged to second place in the polls, backed by 22 per cent of respondents in a January survey by Gad3. Cepeda was in first with 30 per cent. If none of the crowded field wins outright in May, a run-off between the top two will be held in June. While de la Espriella says his heroes are Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, in style and policy he appears to be channelling El Salvador’s strongman Nayib Bukele, who has slashed homicides by locking up more than 2 per cent of the adult population. De la Espriella plans to build mega-jails in the Colombian jungle, mimicking Bukele’s giant Cecot prison, which houses thousands of alleged Salvadoran gang members. Like the Salvadoran leader, he also sports a carefully groomed beard.
Read the full article
https://www.ft.com/content/2a8d7f3a-82a5-4878-a642-079a7162a8d1
