Colombian President Gustavo Petro sharply criticized former US President Donald Trump after Trump endorsed conservative candidate Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia’s presidential election runoff.
De la Espriella, a lawyer known for representing drug-trafficking paramilitaries, fraudsters, and football stars, received 43.74% of votes in the May 31 first round election, narrowly defeating leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, who secured 40.90% [1, 2, 3]. Both advanced to the runoff scheduled for June 21.
Trump publicly endorsed De la Espriella on June 2, praising "his tremendous accomplishments in life" and giving him his "Complete and Total Endorsement" due to his personal political support for Trump [4].
Petro condemned the US for breaching a February 2026 agreement to avoid election interference, accusing Washington of allying with a "narco-paramilitary regime". He described the allies as "genocidal and drug traffickers" and said, "What they (the United States) are implementing is an ideological policy that divides the world between those who think like them and those of us who don't" [2, 4].
Petro also accused local opposition factions of being subservient to Washington and denounced poor treatment of Colombian migrants in the US, stating, "We Latin Americans are not here to be treated like dogs" [3].
The Colombian Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting foreign interference and said any attempt to favor or undermine candidates is unacceptable [3].
De la Espriella counts former president Alvaro Uribe among his backers. Uribe has been accused of colluding with paramilitary groups during Colombia’s decades-long conflict [1, 2]. Cepeda and Petro allege these paramilitary groups committed genocide against leftist activists, including the murder of Cepeda’s father [2].
The runoff election between De la Espriella and Cepeda will take place on June 21 [1, 3].
