Trump-backed candidate wins razor-tight Colombia presidential election

BARRANQUILLA, (Colombia): 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.

US President Donald Trump and a host of right-wing leaders from across the Americas have clamored to offer congratulations and support.

After a campaign marred by guerrilla bomb attacks and the murder of a leading conservative presidential candidate, there was a quick sign of how tough it will be to unite the country.

As he was speaking, thousands of protestors gathered in Colombia’s third-largest city Cali.

Some burned American flags, others wielded bricks and bars and clashed with riot police, who tried to disperse the crowd with teargas.

But elsewhere there was elation. De la Espriella supporters poured onto the streets of several cities wearing the canary-yellow national football jersey he had adopted as a campaign uniform.

They waved flags, blew horns and expressed hope that “The Tiger,” as they call him, would bring security.

“I’m very happy,” said 30-year-old supporter Daniela Oliveros in Barranquilla. “I believe a lot in the country, I believe a lot in freedom.”

“Abelardo, at this moment, is giving us above all a sense of security, employment, and dignity,” she said.

But with only a few hundred thousand votes separating the two candidates — De la Espriella also voiced a conciliatory tone.

“Mine will be an absolutely democratic government and a guarantor of freedom and institutional order,” he said vowing to respect all races, religions and political stripes.