President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave his endorsement to Colombia’s conservative presidential frontrunner candidate Abelardo de la Espriella in the June 21 runoff election.
President Trump, in a Truth Social post, described de la Espriella as a “Smart, Strong, and Tough Leader,” congratulating him on his recent victory in the first round of the 2026 Colombian presidential election, which saw 13 different candidates appear on the ballot.
De la Espriella, a pro-Trump lawyer and businessman running as an outsider candidate representing the conservative Defenders of the Homeland platform, obtained 43.74 percent of the votes. His only close rival in the election, far-left Sen. Iván Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact coalition, obtained 40.90 percent of the votes.
Presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda of the ruling Historic Pact coalition waves before a press conference in Bogota, Colombia, on Monday, June 1, 2026, the day after the first-round presidential election. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
De la Espriella and Cepeda will head to a runoff election on June 21, in which Colombian voters will decide their president for the next four years once outgoing Marxist President Gustavo Petro leaves office in early August.
President Trump said that, as president, de la Espriella would be “tremendously successful” in leading Colombia toward economic growth, job creation, trade, stopping illegal immigration, cracking down on crime and drugs, and restoring law and order to his country. Trump emphasized that de la Espriella’s runoff rival is a “Radical Left Marxist.”
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro speaks after voting during legislative elections in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
“The results of this Election are very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States,” President Trump wrote.
“Because of his tremendous accomplishments in life, and his political support for me, personally, it is my Honor to give Abelardo my Complete and Total Endorsement. “EL TIGRE” ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA WILL NOT LET THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE OF COLOMBIA DOWN! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he continued.
De la Espriella is a 47-year-old lawyer and businessman widely described by international outlets as a staunch supporter of President Trump and an admirer of Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.
If elected, he has vowed to enact security and economic policies in Colombia similar to those implemented by Trump, Milei, and Bukele. Some of the policies include a crackdown on narco-terrorism and gang violence, the construction of “mega-prisons” like El Salvador’s CECOT, and a significant reduction of the Colombian state and public spending, much like the one implemented by Milei in Argentina.
President Donald Trump participates in a pull-aside meeting with Javier Milei, President of Argentina, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, Tuesday, September 23, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
The outsider conservative candidate publicly thanked Trump for his endorsement in a Wednesday morning social media post, praising Trump as a “leader of true strength and conviction — one who refuses to yield to passing ideological trends or the enemies of freedom.” De la Espriella noted that the United States and Colombia have maintained friendly relations as sister nations for decades and share the same values and principles.
De la Espriella vowed to normalize relations with the United States if elected. Colombia, despite its extensive history of friendly relations with the U.S., has seen its ties notably strained over the past years thanks to President Gustavo Petro’s antagonistic stance against President Trump and his administration before both heads of state met in April.
“Our security policies are fully aligned: narcoterrorism is the cancer destroying our societies, and we will confront it relentlessly, with iron resolve and without apology,” de la Espriella wrote.
Outgoing President Gustavo Petro condemned Trump’s endorsement of de la Espriella in a Tuesday night social media post in which he affirmed, “When one country interferes in another country’s decisions, freedom dies.” He invited Colombians to “vote freely and not allow ourselves to become slaves or a colony of anyone.”
“An entire generation of young men and women from New Granada fought alongside [Venezuelan founding father Simón] Bolívar and [Colombian independence hero Antonio] Nariño to secure our freedom and sovereignty,” Petro said, referring to Colombia’s history.
“If the heart of the world loses its freedom and sovereignty, hope will fade for both the world and Colombia,” he concluded.
New Granada was a nation that encompassed present-day Colombia and Panama following the dissolution of the short-lived Gran Colombia in 1831. Panama obtained its independence from Colombia and became a sovereign nation in 1903 with the help of the United States.
Despite Petro’s objection to President Trump’s endorsement, the outgoing Colombian president has publicly endorsed presidential candidates or encouraged Colombians abroad to vote for leftists in local elections, including in the United States. In 2023, Petro urged Argentines to vote for socialist candidate Sergio Massa instead of President Javier Milei. In 2022, he called upon Colombians in Florida to “vote Democrat and gain political independence in Florida” to make the Colombian vote “valuable.”
On November 6, 2020, while serving as senator in Colombia, Petro lamented that Colombians in Florida did not support former President Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election. He also claimed at the time that the 2020 U.S. election was not between “Trump and Biden,” but rather, “a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.”
Although international organizations and politicians — including Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — have praised Colombia for the efficacy and transparency of its electoral system, President Petro has publicly claimed twice this week that he rejects the results of Sunday’s election, claiming to be in possession of evidence that can allegedly demonstrate “fraud” was committed against the far-left candidate Iván Cepeda. Cepeda publicly stated on Monday that his campaign team has found no evidence that can suggest fraud was committed against him or any other candidate in Sunday’s election.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.