Right-wing hardliner Abelardo de la Espriella, or “El Tigre” (The Tiger) as he calls himself, won a majority vote on Sunday to become Colombia’s next president at the age of 47. De la Espriella celebrated his victory the same way he ran the bulk of his campaign: waving to his supporters from behind thick bulletproof glass in the bright yellow national football jersey of Colombia (even after a judge ordered him to stop). With a neatly groomed beard and slicked back hair, the millionaire lawyer managed to win 49.7 percent of the votes to defeat leftist rival Ivan Cepeda by a razor-thin margin despite having no prior political experience. De la Espriella’s win is the latest in a wave of right-wing leadership across Latin America, from El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele to Chile’s José Antonio Kast and Argentina’s Javier Milei. Even Peru seems to be following suit, with Keiko Fujimori on Monday leading that country's presidential leadership contest.
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Cover image: El candidato a la Presidencia de Colombia el ultraderechista Abelardo de la Espriella pronuncia un discurso este domingo, luego de los resultados preliminares que le dan el triunfo por delante del izquierdista Iván Cepeda (Colombia). EFE - Juan Diego López
