He calls on citizens to vote for ‘sovereignty’ as Ivan Cepeda faces Abelardo De la Espriella in June 21 runoff.

On Thursday, former Colombian President Ernesto Samper (1994-1998) joined the growing number of political and intellectual figures who reject U.S. President Donald Trump’s support for far-right candidate Abelardo De la Espriella.

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“President Trump, take your hands off Colombia and Latin America! Your aggressive policy has set the region on fire. The best response we Colombians can give to this abusive intervention is to go out and vote for the sovereignty of our country, led by Ivan Cepeda, who has all the personal, political and moral qualifications to represent Colombia as president,” Samper said via social media.

On Tuesday night, the U.S. president publicly expressed his enthusiastic support for De la Espriella, a populist politician whose record shows ties to figures linked to drug trafficking and paramilitarism.

This endorsement is a new expression of the maneuvers Washington is implementing to “retake” control of Latin American countries. Over the past years, Trump has made similar statements seeking to alter the outcome of electoral processes in other nations.

Amid this threat, Samper’s comments represent a new alert about the rise of far-right forces that have fully aligned with Trump’s geopolitical vision, which presumes neutralizing progressive social and political organizations.

More specifically, Washington is trying to restore neocolonial states that are functional to a more aggressive “Monroe Doctrine,” as in the cases of Honduras with Nasry Asfura, Argentina with Javier Milei, Ecuador with Daniel Noboa, and Chile with Jose Antonio Kast.

I Will Not Vote for a Misogynist and Abuser: Losada

On Wednesday, Juan Carlos Losada, a legislator from the Liberal Party, went viral on social media for an eloquent, forceful and clear statement rejecting far-right candidate De la Espriella.

In addition to openly announcing his support for Cepeda, Losada said he would never support someone like De la Espriella, who has a long history as a dangerous and unethical person.

“We must prevent the fascist far-right from reaching the country,” Losada stressed, emphasizing that Colombia cannot allow De la Espriella to come to power, a person who seeks to weaken state institutions and implement an economic model like Milei’s.

“Losada shook the Congress floor by publicly announcing his support for the Historic Pact candidate, Ivan Cepeda, ahead of the presidential runoff. Losada argued his position with a strong speech rejecting the contender Abelardo de la Espriella,” La Voz del Pueblo reported.

“I will never vote for a misogynist, homophobic, sexist, nor for an animal abuser, nor for someone who promises to violate human rights and destroy nature,” said Losada, who is known as a defender of environmental causes.

“The legislator compared De la Espriella’s agenda to the models of Donald Trump, Javier Milei and Daniel Noboa, and made an urgent call to centrist political forces to unite and prevent the fascist far-right from governing Colombia,” La Voz del Pueblo recalled.

Abelardo De la Espriella is one of Colombia’s most controversial figures because of his long career as a high-profile criminal defense lawyer before entering politics. Over the years, he has represented a number of clients linked to major scandals. His legal work helped build both his fortune and his public profile.

A second source of controversy has been his public rhetoric and political style. De la Espriella has built his political brand around an anti-establishment, hard-line conservative message, frequently using confrontational language against left-wing leaders and rivals.

His comments during the 2026 presidential campaign drew criticism from human rights advocates, who warned that his inflammatory language could deepen political polarization in a country that already has been in internal armed conflict for eight decades.

De la Espriella has also faced backlash for remarks widely described as sexist during media interviews, generating a national debate about his conduct and fitness for public office.

As part of his aggressive way of drawing attention, he filed more than 100 legal complaints against journalists and media outlets between 2008 and 2019, leading critics to accuse him of using legal pressure against the press.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – El Pais – X

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