“El Tigre” De La Espriella, the “outsider” who wants to restore Colombia’s security and boost the economy

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Abelardo De La Espriella, Colombian lawyer and right-wing presidential candidate, speaks with Reuters in Bogotá

Abelardo De La Espriella, Colombian lawyer and right-wing presidential candidate, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Bogotá, Colombia, February 11, 2026. REUTERS/Luisa González

By Luis Jaime Acosta

Thu, February 12, 2026, 5:32 a.m. GMT+9 4 min read

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By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTÁ, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Colombia’s presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella, a lawyer and businessman who describes himself as an independent “outsider,” said Wednesday that if he wins the election, he will launch a military offensive to restore security and promote economic growth.

De La Espriella, 47 years old and considered by analysts as a right-wing candidate, leads some polls on voting intention for the May presidential elections in a tight race with leftist senator Iván Cepeda, who seeks to continue Gustavo Petro’s government.

“In my government, there will be no peace processes. Any bandit who does not surrender will be taken down as the law requires. And if they surrender, they will have to be imprisoned in a real jail,” said the candidate, who uses the slogan “firm for the homeland” and was protected by a strong security scheme of armed police and soldiers.

The candidate is a strong critic of Petro’s peace policy, which began dialogues with leftist guerrilla groups and criminal gangs without concrete results so far, allowing them to strengthen militarily with resources from drug trafficking and illegal gold extraction.

De La Espriella, who will not participate in the March consultations with other right-wing candidates and will go directly to the first round of the presidential election, announced that in his potential government he will resume bombing illegal armed groups, respecting the Constitution and the law, and will begin fumigating coca crops with bioherbicides.

Drug trafficking is considered the main fuel financing armed groups amid a six-decade internal conflict that has left more than 450,000 dead.

The candidate said he will promote programs to replace coca crops with cocoa and oil palm to remove farmers from this illegal economic activity.

“If we have security, we will attract investors because there will be confidence to invest. If we have confidence to invest, we will have social investment, because the money from those taxes funds social programs, and if no money is lost and no one steals public funds, there will be social cohesion, and that will lead us toward development,” he explained.

REACTIVATING THE HYDROCARBON SECTOR

The married candidate and father of four said that if elected president, he will renew the strategic alliance with the United States and Israel to equip the Armed Forces and National Police with first-generation weapons, while increasing the security budget and the number of personnel.

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De La Espriella, leader of the political movement Defenders of the Homeland, proposed the need to recover security to boost economic growth by reducing the size of the state by 40% and reactivating the hydrocarbons sector, which decreased its production due to the current government’s policies to reduce extractive industries and promote renewable energies.

The candidate announced his intention to boost infrastructure and construction, the agricultural sector, and tourism to achieve an annual economic growth of between 6% and 7%.

“If I start to shrink the state and automatically activate the four engines of the Colombian economy that are currently off (…) the economy will start to take off,” said De La Espriella, who revealed he will seek to lower taxes as part of a plan to increase private investment.

Additionally, he expressed his hope to make Colombia the main supplier of goods and services to Venezuela after the U.S. operation that ended Nicolás Maduro’s rule, trusting in the full restoration of democracy in the oil-producing country.

The candidate described himself as the best option to lead the country of more than 50 million inhabitants, an exporter of oil, coal, coffee, and flowers, arguing that he has no ties to traditional politics or economic groups.

“I am independent because I am not financed by large economic groups, because I do not belong to the political elite, so I can only do things differently. And I am the tiger for that,” he said.

“I would rather surround myself with entrepreneurs who have their lives settled, who are not going to collect a salary like me, and who want to serve in the military for democracy, freedom, and institutional stability. Politics needs fewer politicians and more entrepreneurs,” he concluded.

(Report by Luis Jaime Acosta)

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