Trump endorses Colombian far-right candidate De La Espriella ahead of runoff

Colombia may be on the verge of electing a far-right president who has mused about how much fun he had blowing up cats as a child. In a shocking first-round election result on Sunday, Abelardo De La Espriella secured 44 percent of the vote, the highest share among all candidates.

First-Round Results

• Abelardo De La Espriella (far-right): 44%
• Iván Cepeda (ruling left-wing Pacto Histórico coalition): 41%
• Paloma Valencia (institutional right, aligned with former President Álvaro Uribe): 7% — far lower than expected

De La Espriella and Cepeda will face each other in a runoff election on June 21.

Trump's Endorsement

Former President Donald Trump remained relatively quiet about the election until Wednesday morning, when he issued a soaring endorsement of De La Espriella on social media.

"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."

The most surprising aspect of this endorsement may be that it did not come sooner. The U.S. has a long, ugly, and violent history of meddling in Latin American democracy. In recent years, Republicans — including top Trump administration officials — have taken a special interest in a new breed of aspiring strongmen, championing figures such as:

• Argentina's President Javier Milei
• Chile's José Antonio Kast
• El Salvador's Nayib Bukele
• Ecuador's Daniel Noboa

The Role of Senator Bernie Moreno

For guidance on how to approach Colombia, Trump has reportedly turned to Colombian-born Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno.

The former car dealer has not been shy about his dislike of Colombia's current left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, or his affinity for De La Espriella. Key actions include:

• October 2024: When Moreno met with Trump to discuss Latin American politics, he brought the president a fake image of Petro in an orange jumpsuit.
• March 2025: Moreno posed for pictures embracing De La Espriella, with both flashing smiles while delivering the candidate's signature military-style salute.

Moreno's interventions have not been merely symbolic. He has pushed for the U.S. to impose sanctions on Petro and his family — which the Treasury Department did, on the grounds that the president has "allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity."

Days before traveling to Colombia as an accredited election observer (as part of a larger U.S. delegation), Moreno suggested that election officials should invalidate votes from "parts of the country that are not secure" — a remark made when Cepeda was ahead in the polls.

After Sunday's vote, Moreno praised the country's electoral process and congratulated De La Espriella, who thanked the senator for his "support during Sunday's electoral process." On Tuesday, Moreno told reporters he had "vetted" the candidate and found him to be "impeccable." The following day, Trump issued his endorsement.

De La Espriella's Profile

In many ways, the endorsement was to be expected. Aesthetically, De La Espriella shares many traits with other far-right strongmen Republicans have come to admire:

• A showy, self-styled "outsider" to politics
• A penchant for donning his country's soccer team jersey
• Threats to exact revenge on the left
• Cozying up to Trump

While he has campaigned on vaguely populist rhetoric, he is known for wearing Louis Vuitton loafers, buying $10,000 bottles of alcohol, and making provocative statements. In one television appearance, he admitted to having tied firecrackers to cats as a child to watch them explode. "It was terrible," he laughed, "but I enjoyed it."

Beyond Moreno's showboating and odd confessions, the U.S. right appears to value candidates who will welcome U.S. presence in their country and pursue a likeminded brand of authoritarianism. De La Espriella has proposed opening [further details not provided in original text].