Colombians will head to the polls on Sunday (June 28) to elect a new president between two candidates whose lives and visions stand in stark contrast, yet both remain profoundly influenced by paramilitary forces—private armies formed by landowners, drug lords, and far-right politicians to fight leftist guerrilla groups in a decades-long conflict that has left nearly half a million people dead.
The winner will take office on August 7 and inherit the worst violence since the historic 2016 peace deal between the government and most factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Both candidates propose opposing strategies to tackle the rising crime wave.
Far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, a Donald Trump admirer, has led in polls since defeating rival Iván Cepeda in the first round. He advocates a return to full-scale military confrontation tactics that have proved largely ineffective in the past. Meanwhile, leftist candidate Iván Cepeda, 63, backed by incumbent President Gustavo Petro, proposes continuing the 'total peace' strategy through negotiations to disarm all armed groups, including leftist guerrillas, paramilitaries, and organized crime.
Both candidates' lives are closely tied to paramilitary groups. Iván Cepeda's father, Senator Manuel Cepeda, was assassinated in 1994 by military operatives linked to a paramilitary group. Cepeda, a former university professor, witnessed his father's car riddled with bullets. He later became a human rights activist, founding a movement representing victims of death squads and collecting testimonies from former paramilitary members.
In contrast, Abelardo de la Espriella began his career as a defense lawyer for leaders of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)—the country's largest paramilitary organization—during its disarmament negotiations. Last week, Iván Cepeda filed a criminal complaint against De la Espriella, alleging he not only represented the AUC in court but also served as a 'recruiter' for the group through a foundation he established. De la Espriella dismissed the accusations as a 'smokescreen' and countered that Cepeda maintains a 'narco-political' alliance with guerrilla groups to secure votes.
Paramilitary groups emerged in the 1960s, peaking at over 30,000 members. By the 1990s, they became notorious for massacres, brutal torture methods such as rape, dismemberment with chainsaws while victims were still alive, and beheadings with axes. The AUC no longer exists, but the Gulf Clan crime syndicate, founded by former members, has inherited much of its territory and smuggling routes.
De la Espriella has received support from former U.S. President Donald Trump on social media, while 11 Democratic U.S. lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to scrutinize his ties to the AUC, which Washington lists as a foreign terrorist organization. The lawmakers noted that the AUC perpetrated 'countless massacres, assassinations, forced disappearances, as well as torture, forced displacement, sexual violence, and large-scale drug trafficking to the United States.'
Last year, Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot dead at a campaign event. Despite the allegations, many Colombian voters still support De la Espriella for his tough-on-crime promises. 'Paramilitaries kept guerrillas in check. When there are too many thieves, they carry out what they call social cleansing. Sadly, in some ways, they are still useful,' said an anonymous voter in Bogotá.
