BARRANQUILLA, Colombia: A flamboyant US-backed lawyer who has by no means held public workplace narrowly received Colombia’s presidential runoff on Sunday (Jun 21), swinging the nation arduous proper with a promise to wage struggle in opposition to drug-running guerrilla teams.
With nearly all polling centres reporting, Abelardo de la Espriella received 49.66 per cent of the vote versus left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda’s 48.70 per cent.
The 47-year-old’s victory is about to enhance strained relations with Washington and extends a wave of rightist candidates who’ve swept to energy throughout Latin America promising “iron fist” safety insurance policies.
“We’re starting a brand new period!” he informed supporters within the Caribbean metropolis of Barranquilla from behind bullet-proof glass.
“For individuals who have sown violence, terror, drug trafficking, and corruption all these years, their time is up!” he mentioned.
US President Donald Trump and a bunch of right-wing leaders from throughout the Americas have clamoured to supply congratulations and assist.
UNREST
After a marketing campaign marred by guerrilla bomb assaults and the homicide of a number one conservative presidential candidate, there was a fast signal of how robust it will likely be to unite the nation.
As he was talking, hundreds of protestors gathered in Colombia’s third-largest metropolis Cali.
Some burned American flags, others wielded bricks and bars and clashed with riot police, who tried to disperse the gang with teargas.
However elsewhere there was elation. De la Espriella supporters poured onto the streets of a number of cities carrying the canary-yellow nationwide soccer jersey he had adopted as a marketing campaign uniform.
They waved flags, blew horns and expressed hope that “The Tiger”, as they name him, would convey safety.
“I am very comfortable,” mentioned 30-year-old supporter Daniela Oliveros in Barranquilla. “I imagine rather a lot within the nation, I imagine rather a lot in freedom.”
“Abelardo, at this second, is giving us above all a way of safety, employment, and dignity,” she mentioned.
