BOGOTÁ — Conservative Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in Friday as Colombia's president in the volatile southwestern city of Cali, breaking with the tradition of holding the ceremony in Bogotá, and the U.S. State Department announced a $1 billion security package for the new administration hours later.
De la Espriella, a 48-year-old lawyer nicknamed "El Tigre," used his maiden speech at a nearby military base to pledge an "all-out war" on what he called "narco-terrorism," and warned illegal armed groups operating in the region that they must surrender or face being declared "military targets."
The inauguration marks a dramatic rightward shift for Colombia. De la Espriella succeeds left-wing former president Gustavo Petro, whom the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency named a "priority target" in March and who frequently clashed with President Trump. Trump endorsed de la Espriella during the June 21 runoff, and the U.S. delegation to Cali was led by then-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
What Washington bought
The State Department framed the assistance as a "security package" toward "our shared goals" of fighting organized crime and illegal immigration, and said Washington "stands ready to support the de la Espriella administration's efforts to defeat the vicious narco-terrorist and criminal organisations" operating in the country. In one of his first acts, de la Espriella said Colombia would join Trump's "Shield of the Americas" regional coalition and resume diplomatic ties with Israel while severing them with Cuba and Nicaragua, which he called "tyrannies."
The break with Petro
De la Espriella has vowed to end Petro's "Total Peace" negotiations with armed groups, resume aerial coca fumigation and build mega-prisons. Speaking to troops, he said, "The time has come to restore order, authority, and freedom," and pledged to defend democracy "by reason or by force." King Felipe VI of Spain, Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and FIFA President Gianni Infantino attended the ceremony; authorities set up checkpoints across Cali to search vehicles for explosives.
The fiscal fire
Camilo Guzmán, executive director of Libertank, told Fox News Digital that the new president "inherits a house with the roof leaking and the safe empty," citing a 2026 deficit tracking near 6.7 percent of GDP and a financing gap near $34 billion. De la Espriella's party holds only five Senate seats; Petro's Historic Pact remains the largest single bloc.
Petro, who did not attend, has urged social movements in Colombia's southwest to form "people’s militias" to defend against what he called "fascists," and political analyst Sergio Guzmán told the AP that the former president would be "relentless" as an opponent. Protests unfolded in Cali, Bogotá and Barranquilla during the swearing-in, and Andrés Macías, a researcher at Externado University, warned that Petro's rhetoric and the new administration's hard line raise the likelihood of "confrontations during demonstrations or more forceful responses from the authorities."
De la Espriella plans to unveil early appointments, a security package and a fiscal adjustment plan within his first 100 days.