Free Republic

Colombia’s hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 “neutralised” guerrillas.De La Espriella took power last month vowing “all-out war” against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge.“I promised to confront terrorism without hesitation and I’m keeping that promise,” the far-right politician wrote above the video. “I did not come to play nice with murderers, extortionists and child recruiters. I...

US President Donald Trump congratulates Abelardo De La Espriella, a nationalist lawyer who has been elected president of Colombia according to a near-complete but not yet official count. Trump adds that he looks forward to working together to build a powerful relationship between the two countries. The US leader had backed De La Espriella, who has also pledged to renew diplomatic ties with Israel and open an embassy in Jerusalem.

Abelardo de la Espriella faces leftist Iván Cepeda as President Petro faces allegations of improper campaign involvement

A conservative admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump will go head-to-head in a run-off election that will decide Colombia’s next president later this month. Abelardo de la Espriella, a tough-talking lawyer and businessman, took the lead in Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday night, with about 43.7% of the total votes according to results released by the national civil registry, while Iván Cepeda, a seasoned politician from the Pacto Histórico party led by incumbent President Gustavo Petro, followed with 40.9%. Petro, however, has cast doubt on the results of the first round of voting, alleging in a social media post that...

In defense of our liberties ... let us elect Abelardo de la Espriella.

Abelardo de la Espriella, the right-of-center candidate - 44%; Ivan Cepeda, the left-of-center candidate - 40%; Paloma Valencia, the center-to-center right candidate - 7%. (The top two advance to the run-off on June 21st.)