In the dizzying electoral carousel Colombia is experiencing on the road to the 2026 presidential elections, one of the candidates who has generated the most buzz is lawyer Abelardo De la Espriella and his proposals.
Identified with a hard-right discourse, De La Espriella has consolidated a competitive position in the polls — at present, he is the only candidate capable of challenging incumbent Ivan Cepeda for the presidency — and has outlined a package of shock measures that, according to him, he intends to implement immediately from the first day of a possible term.
His main thrust: An ambitious set of decrees to “reactivate the economy” and a direct offensive against drug-trafficking structures, which he proposes as a turning point for Colombia after decades of violence and economic stagnation.
The announcements, many made in radio interviews and Colombian media outlets, do not shy away from sensitive issues. They range from deep cuts to the state apparatus to an aggressive reinterpretation of the fight against drugs that breaks with the strategies of recent governments.
For De La Espriella, the time for reforms cannot wait: He argues that the economy and security must be activated simultaneously for the country to overcome accumulated crises and, according to his argument, regain its “stability and national pride.”
Day 1 decrees: Abelardo de La Espriella’s economic and security proposals for Colombia
One of the pillars of the far right Abelardo de La Espriella’s proposal is his promise to issue 90 decrees on the very day of his presidential inauguration, an unusual figure that reflects his intention to act quickly and without bureaucratic delays.
As he has explained, these decrees would focus on three major areas: Security, the economy, and the stabilization of essential public services. “With God’s help, I will issue 90 decrees on the same day of the inauguration,” he said in a radio interview with local outlet La FM.
On the economic front, the stated objective of these decrees is to activate the four “engines” that De La Espriella considers fundamental to the country’s growth: hydrocarbons and mining, infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism.
Although the specific details of each decree have not been fully spelled out, the overall approach is to deregulate, encourage investment, and reduce the tax burden to ease what he sees as prolonged “economic stagnation.”
Within these decrees, the candidate proposes cutting the size of the state apparatus by up to 40%, a drastic measure that, he says, seeks to “slim down” the public administration to make it more efficient and reduce the state’s fiscal cost.
This policy includes eliminating taxes such as the 4×1,000 levy (the tax on financial transactions) and gasoline taxes, two measures De La Espriella claims will increase liquidity in the productive sector and revive consumption and business investment.
This tax reduction is part of his view that a smaller state — with lower tax burdens — can create a favorable environment for private initiative, which he sees as the engine of growth and job creation. The decrees, as designed, would be aimed at redirecting resources from public spending toward productive incentives in strategic sectors.
Economic shock plan: stabilizing health care, boosting production
While the shock proposal places significant emphasis on security and drug trafficking, it also includes stabilization measures in key sectors such as health care.
De La Espriella has proposed an investment plan of 10 trillion pesos (approximately US$2.75 billion) to stabilize the health care system, aimed at guaranteeing payments to hospitals, the delivery of medicines, and urgent medical care while a deeper reform is structured.
It is worth recalling that the crisis of the health care system is one of the issues that most concerns citizens because of its direct impact on daily life. In addition to the historic crisis of the system’s intermediary companies — known as EPS — there have long been problems in the supply of certain medicines.
While the debate between health system managers and the government pits those responsible for this situation against one another, Congress blocked the approval of Gustavo Petro’s reform, which sought to reshape a system that, despite broad agreement on the need for change across political sectors, has failed to reach the necessary consensus to define the future of health care in the country.
Moreover, despite strong macroeconomic figures, the package of economic proposals includes measures to energize productive sectors, with incentives for infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism, which are considered engines of employment and growth.
Although these promises are laid out more as general guidelines than as detailed policies, they represent the vision of an economic strategy that seeks to combine deregulation, incentives, and the reduction of barriers to capital and domestic production.
Facing drug trafficking: a direct offensive
Perhaps the most controversial and media-driven part of De La Espriella’s proposal is his shock plan against drug trafficking and criminal groups, which he has described in extremely aggressive terms.
The candidate has announced his intention to confront what he calls “narco-terrorism” with forceful actions that include bombing drug traffickers’ camps and fumigating coca crops.
In statements to the aforementioned outlet, De La Espriella emphasized that Colombia faces approximately 330,000 hectares of coca crops and has advocated their elimination through fumigation, arguing that this is one of the first “lines of combat” against the criminal structures that finance violence and insecurity.
“I am going to confront narco-terrorism by bombing terrorist camps and fumigating coca,” he said, stressing his intention to form a special task force to combat extortion.
To that end, and as a flagship measure, in addition to crop spraying, the candidate who leads right-wing voting intention in Colombia proposes building megaprisons — following the guidelines of President Bukele in El Salvador — to incarcerate members of criminal gangs, as part of a “hard-line” approach that would eliminate, “from minute one,” the current government’s Total Peace policy.
It is worth recalling that over the past four years, the growth of armed groups — which the opposition links to peace talks and a relaxation of the military line — has threatened security in various peripheral regions of the country.
This is the case in Catatumbo, which has spent a year suffering the direct impact of illegal armed groups fighting for control of drug-trafficking routes, a reality that adds to the already traditionally complex situation in Cauca, in the south of the country.
Proposals with an eye on the polls
The shock proposals announced by Abelardo de La Espriella have polarized the country between supporters and detractors. The former see them as necessary to break with strategies that, in their view, have failed to counter drug trafficking and reactivate the economy.
His detractors, by contrast, question the viability of such radical measures, their social impact, and the risks of concentrating power in decrees without broad consensus.
What is clear is that, as the 2026 elections draw closer, De La Espriella’s shock proposals — centered on a package of economic decrees and a frontal offensive against drug trafficking — are becoming one of the most talked-about pillars of Colombia’s public debate, as the candidate shows a technical tie in first-round voting with the left-wing candidate.