MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

De la Espriella to make Medellín Colombia's hub for the Trump-backed anti-drug alliance

“We are going to have the main headquarters of the Shield of the Americas, the agreement we will sign with the United States in the fight against crime and drug trafficking,” the president-elect said

Colombia's president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, confirmed that Medellín will host the Colombian headquarters of the Shield of the Americas, the security alliance promoted by US President Donald Trump, and announced he will work part of the time from that city and from Barranquilla. The announcements came during a series of activities in the department of Antioquia, less than two weeks before he takes office on August 7.

“We are going to have the main headquarters of the Shield of the Americas, the agreement we will sign with the United States in the fight against crime and drug trafficking,” the president-elect said after a meeting of more than five hours with Governor Andrés Julián Rendón and the department's 125 mayors. He justified the choice by arguing that Medellín is where “the head of the serpent of drug trafficking and organized crime” lies and that much of the country's criminal structures is directed from its metropolitan area. He also signaled a hardline approach toward those organizations.

The decision marks a shift from the outgoing government's policy. The Shield of the Americas was launched by Trump on March 7 at a summit in Miami attended by right-wing Latin American leaders, among them Argentina's Javier Milei, El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, and Ecuador's Daniel Noboa. Colombia was not invited, amid deteriorating relations between Gustavo Petro's administration and Washington. The alliance, which envisages intelligence sharing and coordinated operations against drug trafficking, currently brings together 16 countries; Mexico and Brazil are not members. Vice-President-elect José Manuel Restrepo has already expressed in Washington an interest in joining, “with absolute respect for national sovereignty.”

Separately, De la Espriella announced he will move the headquarters of ProColombia, the agency that promotes non-mining exports, tourism, and foreign investment, to Medellín. “Colombia will no longer be governed exclusively from Bogotá. The country's future will be built from its regions,” he said on Friday at an event with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean in Medellín, where a $9 billion investment in the country over the next four years was announced.

His cabinet will include at least three ministers from Antioquia: former senator Paola Holguín in Culture, Juliana Gutiérrez in Sport, and María Nohemí Arboleda in Mines and Energy. Antioquia was decisive in his runoff victory over Iván Cepeda: he took 2,185,834 votes there, about 65% of the total, and won in 108 of the 125 municipalities.