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Colombia heads to presidential runoff amid polarisation and paramilitary concerns

Colombia heads to presidential runoff amid polarisation and paramilitary concerns

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Colombia’s presidential runoff pits right‑wing businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella—backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and a pledge to abandon President Gustavo Petro’s "total peace" plan—against left‑wing senator Iván Cepeda, an heir to Petro’s movement and a reformist advocate.

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Abelardo De La Espriella
Senate
1. I will give the order to bomb all of the camps holding narco-terrorists.
2. I never said I would solve the security problem in 90 days.
Ivan Cepeda
1. Even in the worst of times, Colombia has chosen life, democracy, hope and peace as the path forward.
Kyle Johnson
Conflict Responses Foundation
1. It's better than nothing. But at the end of the day, it's not much more than nothing.
2. It's undeniable that we have a worse security situation now than we had four years ago.
Sandra Borda Guzmán
Universidad de los Andes
1. The peace process opened a lot of ground for the left. To the same degree, it inevitably (opened) ground to the right.
2. More than polarization, what we're seeing is a broadening of the political landscape.
3. Between the international trend favouring candidates who present themselves as anti-political figures and Colombia's domestic security situation, that combination has helped him significantly.
Gustavo Duncan
Universidad de los Andes
1. At its peak, these groups had more than 30,000 members. It was an enormous army spread throughout the country.
María Teresa Ronderos
Universidad de los Andes
1. To return to that after everything it cost us is deeply sad.
2. Colombia has spent years trying to dismantle that terrible war, and he talks about 'disembowelling' leftists and killing criminals.
3. That does not mean he is personally a criminal [but] De la Espriella comes from the heart of those narco-paramilitary networks.
Luis Villamarín
1. What we see is not less war. It is the same war, divided among more groups.
John Manrique
1. Let's accept it, regardless of the side, and try to reach a social consensus. ... Let's not go out and fight.
2. What I hope is that people accept who won.
3. Right now, what worries me is the polarisation that exists between us: there are two very extreme sides, and the violence is concerning.

Colombia heads to presidential runoff amid polarisation and paramilitary concerns

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