Conservative President of Colombia Abelardo de la Espriella on Sunday accused the administration of his predecessor, Marxist Gustavo Petro, of “looting” the country through “fiscal irresponsibility.”
The Colombian President, who took office in early August, addressed his nation on Sunday night on several subjects for about an hour, starting with the economy. De la Espriella opened his speech by “revealing the truth that the corrupt radical left hid from you for four long years,” and warning Colombians that the country is facing a “serious fiscal situation” marked by significant debt.
The President emphasized that the state of Colombia’s finances is not an accident or the result of external factors but instead attributed it to actions taken by the preceding government of Gustavo Petro, which lasted between August 2022 and August 2026. Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist group, is Colombia’s first and only leftist president ever.
Colombia’s then-President Gustavo Petro holds a press conference at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, on Monday, August 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
De la Espriella reportedly explained that Colombia has a projected budget of $206 billion for 2027. Of the total, the Colombian president detailed, 44 percent, or $91 billion, comes from debt.
“Petro and his government made decisions that are illegal and that left Colombia on the brink of disaster,” de la Espriella said. “No crisis or recession in the past compares to the economic disaster that Gustavo Petro and his people caused.”
“Colombia cannot and must not pay for the fiscally irresponsible actions with which they plundered the country and the public treasury. I warned of this as soon as I took office. I said so publicly,” he continued.
De la Espriella said that Colombia faces a critical situation that demands “urgent measures,” stressing that “for every 100 pesos in the budget, 24 will go to debt payment and barely 14 will remain for investment. This is the reality we received and which we have to change.” To that end, the conservative president announced a series of austerity measures collectively totaling some $5.6 billion.
“The budget can’t keep being hidden; you can’t hide obligations or report revenue that doesn’t exist,” de la Espriella reportedly stressed. “That’s why we included expenses that hadn’t been reported, paradoxically, for those most in need, the very people they [Petro administration] claimed to protect. That’s a lie.”
The Colombian president reiterated his accusations against Petro and his administration, emphasizing that the preceding government “irresponsibly resorted to borrowing.” Additionally, de la Espriella accused the Petro government of having “spent beyond its means” for years, leading to a government “with more obligations, more debt, and less capacity to respond when the country needs it most.”
Former President Gustavo Petro, known for delivering unhinged Twitter rants, responded to de la Espriella in a lengthy message accusing the new president of “seeking to deceive the nation to hide his own incapacity.” Petro also announced that he will seek a formal right to reply before Colombian authorities to address the allegations presented by de la Espriella, while accusing the current president, without evidence, of allegedly obtaining his wealth from “drug trafficking.”
“I reject the accusation of corruption against my administration made by a man whose wealth comes solely from drug trafficking, an activity he not only defended but also advised on in its most brutal form,” Petro’s message read in part.
The former Colombian president claimed that de la Espriella will “doom” Colombia’s economy and Colombian companies if he reduces social spending and takes in more debt.
“The one who has lived off the owners of drug trafficking is preparing for the repression of the people because he knows he cannot solve problems,” Petro wrote. “Rubio’s visit did not lower the tariffs that Trump imposed on Colombia, and they are moving toward an agreement in which Colombia is not viewed as a nation but as a territory from which to extract natural resources at a low price.”
“Corruption means surrendering national sovereignty and destroying the economy because of a lack of courage to tax Colombia’s wealthiest citizens and continuing to pursue a security policy that leads us to bury more bodies,” he concluded.