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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 27th 2026 - 00:07 UTC

Tag: Abelardo de la Espriella

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 20:12 UTC

    Petro calls for 'general and indefinite strike' if successor repeals his reforms

    Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights

    Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, called on Monday for a “general and indefinite strike” should the government of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, repeal his administration's labor reform or reverse the land reform. De la Espriella, elected in the June 21 runoff, will take office on August 7.

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  • Wednesday, July 15th 2026 - 22:16 UTC

    Petro confirms he will skip De la Espriella's inauguration, repeating fraud claim

    “I cannot accept a president, and that is why I will not be anywhere on August 7, nor shake his hand; let him say so, but he knows why, because it is a fraud,” Petro said

    Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, has confirmed he will not attend the August 7 inauguration of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, whose victory he continues to reject. The decision breaks with the tradition under which the departing head of state accompanies the president-elect during the oath before Congress.

  • Tuesday, July 14th 2026 - 07:33 UTC

    Colombia: Petro bars military sites for inauguration; De la Espriella says he will go ahead

    The president-elect, who adopted a military salute and the slogan “Firm for the homeland” during his campaign, has expressed his intention to hold the ceremony in Popayán

    Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, has ordered that no military facility be used for the inauguration of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, scheduled for August 7. The president-elect responded that he will maintain his intention to be sworn in at a garrison in the south of the country, deepening the standoff between the two men less than a month before the handover.

  • Friday, July 10th 2026 - 18:37 UTC

    Colombia's president-elect asks Congress to be sworn in at a military base

    Article 192 of the Constitution states that the president must take office before Congress, though it does not specify that this must be at the National Capitol

    Colombia's president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, has asked Congress to assess the legal feasibility of moving his inauguration ceremony, set for August 7, from Bogotá to a military garrison, in a proposal without recent precedent that will be left to the incoming legislature to decide.

  • Tuesday, July 7th 2026 - 23:00 UTC

    Colombia's president-elect suspends transition, accuses Petro of attempting a coup

    De la Espriella, a right-wing lawyer who won the June 21 runoff, ordered his vice president-elect, José Manuel Restrepo, to suspend transition meetings “immediately” on Tuesday

    Colombia's president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, froze the transition process with the outgoing government of Gustavo Petro on Tuesday and accused the president of attempting a coup, in a sharp escalation exactly one month before the handover of power, set for August 7.

  • Monday, July 6th 2026 - 20:14 UTC

    Petro rejects Colombia election result, backs legal bid to annul De la Espriella win

    Petro claimed that algorithms were run from a server with an IP address in Los Angeles to alter the count in De la Espriella's favor

    Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, reiterated on Sunday that he does not recognize the legitimacy of the incoming government of Abelardo de la Espriella, insisting that the June 21 presidential runoff was marked by fraud — an accusation he has not backed with public evidence and which is contradicted by international observers and the official vote count itself.

  • Tuesday, June 30th 2026 - 22:19 UTC

    Cepeda threatens 'civil disobedience' unless Colombia's president-elect renounces US citizenship

    Colombian Constitution does not prohibit dual nationality for the presidency: it requires being born in the country and being over 30, requirements that De la Espriella, born in Bogotá, meets

    Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, who lost Colombia's presidential runoff, announced on Tuesday that he will resort to “peaceful civil disobedience” against the incoming government of Abelardo de la Espriella if the president-elect does not renounce his US citizenship and clarify a series of questions before taking office on August 7. The Pacto Histórico leader, from the party of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, urged his voters to join the measure, which he described as not recognizing the new president's authority.

  • Tuesday, June 23rd 2026 - 18:02 UTC

    De la Espriella says Colombia will join the US-led 'Shield of the Americas' on August 7

    De la Espriella, who received Trump's electoral backing, will come to power with rhetoric aligned with the White House on an iron-fist approach to organized crime and immigration

    Colombia's president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, said on Tuesday that the country will join the “Shield of the Americas,” the US initiative against drug cartels, on August 7, when he takes office in place of Gustavo Petro. “From August 7, Colombia will be part of the Shield of the Americas. Colombia will no longer be governed by a government complacent toward narcoterrorism; we will move to combat it as it deserves,” he wrote on the social network X, in response to a congratulation from US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

  • Monday, June 22nd 2026 - 13:24 UTC

    De la Espriella gives a victory speech vowing unity as Cepeda awaits the final tally

    ”The electoral campaign is over, the divisions are over (...) and the supreme hour of service to the homeland begins,” De la Espriella said

    Right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella delivered a victory speech on Sunday in Barranquilla, in which he proclaimed himself the winner of Colombia's presidential runoff according to the preliminary count and called for national unity, while the official tally remained under way and his rival, left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, conditioned recognition of the result on the definitive count.

  • Monday, June 22nd 2026 - 04:30 UTC

    De la Espriella wins Colombia's presidency in the preliminary count as Cepeda awaits the tally

    De la Espriella addressed Colombians with a “message of unity” and promised “absolute respect” for the vote

    Right-wing criminal lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won Colombia's presidency, according to the preliminary count by the Registraduría, defeating left-wing senator Iván Cepeda by less than a point in the closest runoff in the country's history. With about 99.9% of the tables processed, De la Espriella took 49.66% of the vote against Cepeda's 48.70%, a difference of some 250,000 ballots. The governing-coalition candidate acknowledged the preliminary count but warned that he would not accept the result until the definitive tally, and challenged 33,000 of the 120,000 polling tables; President Gustavo Petro said that “neither can proclaim himself president.”

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