In a move that could prove highly risky, Abelardo De La Espriella, a far-right candidate for Colombia’s presidency, has ruled out any alliance with traditional political parties.
By doing so, he is hardening his stance against other sectors of the political spectrum and reinforcing the outsider image that his campaign has been cultivating — with measurable success in the polls, which place him as the main challenger to left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda.
A risky decision by Abelardo de la Espriella
The decision is risky because those political parties — including the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, Cambio Radical, and La U —collectively command votes that could prove decisive in tipping the balance. However, explaining his position, De La Espriella said: “This will be won by those of us who have never betrayed the people.”
The well-known lawyer, now a contender for the country’s highest office — who many believe is trying to emulate Nayib Bukele — continues to reject what he calls the practices of “old politics.” He has emphasized that his candidacy has not received funding from major economic groups.
“The most important alliance we have already made is with the Colombian people and with God,” De La Espriella said in a statement, adding that for at least four months, several political leaders have sought to join his campaign.
“Adding for the sake of adding makes no sense when those seeking to join are the same ones who have endorsed corruption,” he said, before delivering a pointed line: “Those who negotiate with the devil end up entangled. We will not compromise our principles.”
With this path now set, De La Espriella will have to face the remaining two months of the campaign alongside his vice-presidential running mate, former minister and academic Jose Manuel Restrepo, in whom he expresses strong confidence.
“We are in a synchrony where I have yet to find a difference — we’ll look for one, because there has to be one,” De La Espriella said in an interview with Semana magazine. “But on the fundamental, the substantive, the decisive, the transcendent — on what truly matters — Jose Manuel and I are in total sync. We’re like a jazz band. We don’t need to talk to each other.”
The challenge: winning over centrist voters
Now the pair must capitalize on that harmony and focus their efforts on attracting centrist voters — a broad segment of the political spectrum that views De la Espriella with caution due to his radical positions and remarks, such as his pledge to “gut” the left if elected.
In a country weary of political polarization, the political center has been gaining ground. One party working intensely in that space is the Centro Democrático, founded and led by perhaps the most emblematic figure of the right, former president Alvaro Uribe. Its candidate, Paloma Valencia, underscored this strategy by selecting Daniel Oviedo — an emerging political figure with strong prospects — as her vice-presidential running mate.
More than for his policy proposals, De La Espriella has gained recognition for his fierce opposition to Gustavo Petro. “The goal is to fight to defeat a political, economic, social, and cultural model that has failed around the world. In the end, this is not about Cepeda or me. It is about the past versus the future; statism versus economic freedom; absolutism versus democracy. It is the struggle of good against evil, because this is also a spiritual war,” he said in an interview with Tropicana radio.
However, De La Espriella’s hardline stance could shift if he fails to secure sufficient support in the first round of elections, scheduled for May 31. Should Paloma Valencia advance to the runoff to face the leftist Cepeda, De La Espriella has said he would back her — “carry her bag,” as the political idiom goes.