U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed conservative Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who will face progressive senator Ivan Cepeda in a runoff election this month.
“The results of this election are very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States,” Trump wrote in a June 3 post on Truth Social.
Trump called Cepeda a “Radical Left Marxist.”
“Because of his tremendous accomplishments in life, and his political support for me, personally, it is my honor to give Abelardo my complete and total endorsement. ‘El Tigre’ Abelardo de la Espriella will not let the wonderful people of Colombia down!” added Trump.
De la Espriella and Cepeda are heading to a June 21 presidential runoff after a first-round vote.
De la Espriella, nicknamed “The Tiger” by his supporters, who has never held elected office, garnered nearly 44 percent of the votes, while Cepeda, a long-time senator and activist, got under 41 percent, according to the official Colombian electoral authority.
“The United States is crucial for combating crime and narco-terrorism in our country,” De la Espriella said in a June 2 post on X.
“I am deeply honored to receive the resolute support of President Donald Trump and his administration, and I know that in the era of the Tiger, we will forge a partnership like none Colombia has ever had with the United States before.”
De la Espriella has promised to build 10 mega-prisons, which have drawn comparisons to El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele has pursued a campaign that rounded up members of the notorious MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) gang in its prisons, which had a reputation for extreme violence, and put them in a 40,000-inmate mega-prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center.
According to Statista, about 1.6 percent of El Salvador’s population is in jail, the highest rate in the world.
“Colombia is going through its darkest hours. At the end of the day, this is not a battle between Ivan Cepeda and me, it is a battle between totalitarianism and democracy,” de la Espriella told Reuters in a February interview.
“I will dare to do what needs to be done within the framework of the constitution and the law to save and rebuild Colombia. … I am the tiger for that.
“In my government, there will be no peace processes. Criminals who do not submit will be taken down, as permitted by law.”
Cepeda is a senator for the Pacto Histórico, Colombia’s socialist coalition.
In March, Cepeda was asked directly by Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell if he was a communist.
“I was a member of the Communist Youth during my teenage and early adult years, so to speak. Later, I joined the Communist Party, but then I left that political organization,” Cepeda said.
Coronell then noted that he was born in a “home of communist parents, communist father, Manuel Cepeda, communist mother, Yira Castro.”
“I was born in a home with a strong political culture, and that, without a doubt, marked my life and my existence. And my childhood, too,” said Cepeda.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized Trump’s endorsement of de la Espriella.
“When one country interferes in the decisions of another, freedom dies. I urge all of Colombia to vote freely and not become slaves or colonies of anyone,” he said in a June 3 post on X.
Trump issued a warning late last year to Petro that he must curb Colombia’s cocaine production.
“We know where they are,” Trump said. “He’d better close them up fast.”
The two leaders met at the White House in Washington on Feb. 3 and are now cooperating on countering terrorism and narco-trafficking.
“We’re working on that. We’re working on some other things too, including sanctions,” Trump said during a bill signing ceremony following the meeting. “We had a very good meeting. I thought it was terrific.”
The leaders’ first in-person meeting comes after the two traded barbs in recent months.
“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted because I never met him,” Trump said. “I didn’t know him at all, and we got along very well.”
Ryan Morgan, Travis Gillmore, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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