Trump-backed candidate wins razor-tight Colombia presidential vote

BOGOTA: A flamboyant US-backed lawyer who has never held public office narrowly won Colombia’s presidential runoff Sunday, swinging the country hard to the right on a promise to wage war against drug-running guerrilla groups.

With more than 99% of polling centers reporting, Abelardo de la Espriella had 49.65% of the vote, an unassailable lead over his rival, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda who trailed at 48.70%, according to official results.

In Bogota, De la Espriella supporters waved flags and blew horns as the results trickled in.

Only a few hundred thousand votes separated the two candidates after a hyper-fractious campaign that was marred by guerrilla bomb attacks, hundreds of threats against candidates and the murder of a leading conservative presidential hopeful.

The 47-year-old’s victory is likely to improve strained relations with Washington – which has provided the South American nation with billions of dollars in military aid – and to test the country’s fragile peace process.

De la Espriella had won US President Donald Trump’s “complete and total endorsement,” and his victory extends a wave of rightist candidates who have swept to power across Latin America.

During the campaign, the dual US-Colombian national, who calls himself “The Tiger,” told AFP that if elected, he would immediately end peace talks with dissident groups and launch a 90-day campaign of US-backed airstrikes against them.