MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Tuesday, June 23rd 2026 - 18:02 UTC
De la Espriella, who received Trump's electoral backing, will come to power with rhetoric aligned with the White House on an iron-fist approach to organized crime and immigration
Colombia's president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, said on Tuesday that the country will join the “Shield of the Americas,” the US initiative against drug cartels, on August 7, when he takes office in place of Gustavo Petro. “From August 7, Colombia will be part of the Shield of the Americas. Colombia will no longer be governed by a government complacent toward narcoterrorism; we will move to combat it as it deserves,” he wrote on the social network X, in response to a congratulation from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The announcement marks a shift from Petro's foreign policy. The “Shield of the Americas,” created by President Donald Trump in March, is a regional coalition against organized crime that was joined by right-wing governments such as those of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and El Salvador, but not by left-wing administrations like those of Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala or Mexico. De la Espriella, who received Trump's electoral backing, will come to power with rhetoric aligned with the White House on an iron-fist approach to organized crime and immigration.
