Paramilitaries cast a shadow over Colombia’s presidential runoff

Sunday’s presidential runoff in Colombia will hand power on 7 August to a winner whose life story is entangled with paramilitary forces that shaped decades of conflict. Iván Cepeda, a 63-year-old leftwing senator and human rights activist, lost his father to murder by army officers linked to paramilitaries and built a public career exposing their crimes.

Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, a far-right admirer of Donald Trump, rose as a lawyer defending paramilitary leaders and presents himself as an outsider. The candidates offer sharply different responses to a surge in violence. De la Espriella advocates a return to full-scale military confrontation, while Cepeda—backed by the outgoing president—pushes for a modified continuation of Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” plan, which seeks negotiations to dismantle all armed groups.

Security experts say the strategy has broadly failed, and Gustavo Duncan says the vote reflects a country shaped by drug trafficking.

Colombia

colombia, iván cepeda, abelardo espriella, paramilitaries, drug trafficking, total peace, gustavo petro, human rights, rising violence, military confrontation