BARRANQUILLA: A flamboyant US-backed lawyer who has never held public office narrowly won Colombia’s presidential runoff Sunday, swinging the country hard right with a promise to wage war against drug-running guerrilla groups.
With almost all polling centers reporting, Abelardo de la Espriella won 49.66 percent of the vote versus left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda’s 48.70 percent.
The 47-year-old’s victory is set to improve strained relations with Washington and extends a wave of rightist candidates who have swept to power across Latin America promising “iron fist” security policies.
“We are beginning a new era!” he told supporters in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla from behind bullet-proof glass.
“For those who have sown violence, terror, drug trafficking, and corruption all these years, their time is up!” he said.
