Magazine article
Democracy’s next big test: could a Trump‑endorsed US citizen become Colombia’s president?
The Conversation, Vol.19 June 2026
2026
Appears in The Conversation
Abstract
On Sunday, voters in Colombia will choose their next president in a contest that could have implications far beyond the country’s borders.
One of the leading candidates is Abelardo de la Espriella, a far-right celebrity lawyer who has been endorsed by US President Donald Trump and has pledged to take an “iron fist” approach to crime if elected.
De la Espriella led Iván Cepeda, a philosopher and veteran human-rights senator, after the first round of voting, and some polls make him the favourite. But nothing is settled. Undecided voters and the large number of Colombians who stayed home in the first round could still hand the presidency to Cepeda.
Should de la Espriella win, the wave that carried other far-right leaders to victory in Latin America – Nayib Bukele (El Salvador), Javier Milei (Argentina) and José Antonio Kast (Chile) – would claim its largest prize yet.
Details
- Title
- Democracy’s next big test: could a Trump‑endorsed US citizen become Colombia’s president?
- Authors
- Juan Zahir Naranjo Cáceres - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- The Conversation, Vol.19 June 2026
- Publisher
- Conversation Media Group
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.64628/AA.kws5hnuvx
- ISSN
- 2201-5639
- Copyright note
- © The Conversation Media Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Organisation Unit
- International Office; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991243599102621
- Output Type
- Magazine article
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1 Record Views