Abelardo de la Espriella

It is another sweltering afternoon in Washington, and the room at the Atlantic Council is filling with businessmen and diplomats for a speech already ten minutes late. José Manuel Restrepo, Colombia's vice-president-elect and a former finance minister, is no stranger to the venue: since last fall he has been a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. But the think-tank polish sits on top of a crisis back home. In June, the right-wing outsider Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia's presidency by a whisker – some 250,000 votes out of 26 million – beating the chosen candidate of the outgoing president, Gustavo Petro.  Petro, the country's first leftist leader and a former guerrilla, has refused to accept the result.

Abelardo de la Espriella was never going to be a typical Colombian presidential candidate. Nicknamed "The Tiger," the defense lawyer who has represented a string of controversial clients is also a businessman and owns a number of clothing and alcohol brands, a Miami restaurant and even music albums. De la Espriella campaigned on a radical and robust security agenda, vowing to rid Colombia of its violent and criminal woes. “I will wipe out narco-terrorism..I will unleash the wrath of God upon them as never seen before,” de la Espriella said “I will wipe out narco-terrorism, those I have sentenced and declared military targets, like cockroaches, like rats. I will unleash the wrath of God upon them as never seen before,” de la Espriella said during his campaign.