Colombian far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella emerges as anti-Petro opposition frontrunner

In the span of a few months, Abelardo de la Espriella transformed himself from a controversial media-friendly lawyer into Colombia's most viable right-wing presidential candidate. The 47-year-old, who calls himself the Tiger, has done this by tapping into a deep well of frustration with the current government and offering a simple promise: restore order through force. He now stands as the principal opposition figure to Iván Cepeda, the leftist candidate backed by President Gustavo Petro, and his rise reveals something about Colombian politics in 2026—that a significant portion of the electorate is hungry for an alternative that speaks in the language of authority and spectacle.

De la Espriella was born in Bogotá in 1978 and grew up on Colombia's Caribbean coast. He studied law and founded his own firm in 2002, representing politicians, artists, and military figures in defamation and criminal cases. His client list has been eclectic and sometimes troubling. He defended Álex Saab, the Venezuelan businessman accused of being a front man for Nicolás Maduro, and David Murcia Guzmán, who ran a massive financial scheme that defrauded thousands. Yet he also represented victims of gender violence in cases that led to important Colombian legislation. He has built wealth through his law practice, recorded albums as a singer, and cultivated an image of cosmopolitan sophistication, with homes in Italy and the United States. This unconventional profile—a millionaire lawyer who presents himself as both cultured and tough—became the foundation of his political brand.

He launched his movement, Defensores de la Patria, in July 2025 with a nationalist conservative platform. His campaign formally began in November with a massive rally at a concert venue in Bogotá, backed by 4.8 million signatures. The timing was fortuitous. The right-wing Centro Democrático party, led by former president Álvaro Uribe, had fractured after the assassination of one of its candidates and struggled to unite behind Paloma Valencia. The centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo lost momentum. Meanwhile, the left consolidated around Cepeda. De la Espriella filled the void, positioning himself as the clear anti-Petro choice. By January, the conservative Movimiento Salvación Nacional had endorsed him, and Federico Gutiérrez, the mayor of Medellín and a former presidential candidate, brought his movement Creemos into his coalition. Uribe himself signaled that if Valencia did not reach a runoff, the Centro Democrático would back De la Espriella. Polls consistently showed him in second place, the undisputed leader of the fragmented right.

His campaign message centers on security and a smaller state. He promises to restart aerial spraying of illegal crops, deploy the military and air force against criminal organizations, forge closer military ties with the United States and Israel, ban precursor chemicals for fentanilo production, and create specialized task forces to capture extortion gang leaders. He has called Colombia's security situation a pandemic and vowed to confront drug trafficking by reason or by force, always within constitutional bounds. On economics, he proposes cutting taxes broadly, eliminating a financial transaction tax, and signing new oil extraction contracts—a direct rebuke to Petro's energy policies. He opposes diplomatic relations with Venezuela until democratic elections are held. He has expressed admiration for Nayib Bukele's El Salvador, praising its high-security prison system and suggesting he would build similar megaprisons in Colombia.

De la Espriella's political positions have shifted notably. In 2012, he supported peace negotiations with the FARC and the participation of guerrilla leaders in politics. Now he says peace is not negotiated but imposed, and that peace processes have failed. Once describing himself as atheist, his campaign now emphasizes Christian values and claims he has found God. He opposes abortion, defends the traditional family, and has called for the death penalty for those who murder children. Yet he says he respects the Constitutional Court's rulings on rights. This flexibility—or inconsistency, depending on perspective—suggests a candidate willing to reshape his positions to appeal to conservative voters angry with the current government.

What has distinguished De la Espriella most visibly is his willingness to use the courts against journalists who criticize him. His campaign sued columnist Ana Bejarano for questioning his professional record and political rhetoric. Press freedom organizations have documented a pattern: between 2008 and 2019, he filed 109 defamation complaints, many dismissed by prosecutors. The Foundation for Press Freedom and the Inter-American Press Society have warned that these lawsuits function as a form of intimidation, designed to exhaust and silence critical voices rather than repair genuine harm. Additionally, his interactions with female journalists have drawn accusations of sexism. He was criticized for a condescending exchange with María Lucía Fernández on a major news program, and in another incident, he showed a photo on his phone to a journalist and asked her to zoom in on an image of his crotch while making sexual comments. He later apologized on social media. Yet these controversies have not dented his polling numbers. In Colombian politics, as elsewhere, there appears to be no such thing as bad publicity.

De la Espriella has never held public office and has no government contracts, which he presents as proof of his outsider status. He claims to be self-made, with no major financial backers and no obligations to the elite. This narrative—the successful businessman untainted by the establishment, willing to speak bluntly and act decisively—resonates with voters exhausted by traditional politics. He has said he is open to support from all political sectors except Petro's movement, and he frames his candidacy as a necessary counterweight to what he sees as a threat to fundamental freedoms and democratic institutions. He cites the disputed Venezuelan election of July 2024 as the alarm that motivated his run. Whether De la Espriella can convert his polling lead into a first-round victory or force a runoff remains to be seen, but his emergence as the face of Colombia's renewed right signals that the country's political polarization will intensify in the months ahead.