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Colombian President-elect Abelardo de la Espirella, a conservative millionaire who earned an endorsement from President Trump, suspended the transition process on Tuesday, accusing President Gustavo Petro of planning a coup to remain in power.
Petro, whom Trump had been critical of in the past but later called “terrific” after an hours-long meeting between the two earlier this year, refused to recognize de la Espirella’s victory in the election.
De la Espirella defeated Petro-backed progressive candidate Sen. Iván Cepeda in the June presidential runoff election by one percentage point.
Petro alleged that de la Espirella’s victory was the result of fraud — a claim made without evidence.
The president-elect, who is a businessman and a lawyer, said Petro and Cepeda had planned to “cling to power at all costs” by launching a coup and refusing to recognize him as Colombia’s next president.
“As president-elect, I call on Colombia’s armed forces to honor their oath to protect the Constitution and democracy and to disobey any orders from Petro to the contrary,” he said in a video.
De la Espirella did not provide evidence to support his claims.
Colombian finance minister Germán Ávila, in charge of coordinating the Petro administration’s transition, suspended the handover process in light of de la Espirella’s suspension.
In response to allegations made by staffers on de la Espirella’s transition team, Ávila said Petro’s team “had nothing to hide.”
Preliminary results of the election showed de la Espirella won by almost 250,000 votes. Cepeda said he considered the count “unofficial and non-binding” and that his team would challenge the results from tens of thousands of voting stations.
The nonprofit neutral observer, the Carter Center, deployed an 11-member team of election experts to Bogotá a month before the election, and found that the results management system “proved to be reliable, transparent, and ensures full traceability of results.”
De la Espirella, who holds dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship, is a political outsider who made his fortune as the head of his criminal law firm and through a variety of successful business ventures.
Nicknamed “The Tiger,” his tough-on-crime approach promised to crack down on drug trafficking, earning him the approval of the Trump administration.
“The Trump Administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen our economic ties,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social platform X following his win.
Cepeda, an ally of Petro’s, had promised to continue the outgoing president’s agenda should he be elected. This included Petro’s failed attempts to establish peace negotiations with multiple armed groups, which de la Espirella vowed to halt.
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