This Sunday, June 7, marks one year since the fateful attack in Bogotá against Senator Miguel Uribe Trubay, who died two months later, on August 11, 2025, at the Santa Fe clinic. Various figures from the Colombian right have prepared tributes in memory of the assassinated senator. The far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, for example, has asked his followers to raise the Colombian flag in their homes.
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On the other hand, the left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda, asked private channels RCN and Caracol, and the state-owned RTVC, this Saturday morning to organize a televised presidential debate. In the same intervention, he accused his rival, the far-right Abelardo de la Espriella, of running a “dirty” digital campaign and even of possible illicit financial dealings and vote-buying schemes. He delegated the collection of information and the making of legal and judicial decisions on the matter to lawyer Miguel Ángel del Río, a progressive activist.
De la Espriella, for his part, spoke in a video call this Saturday with Keiko Fujimori, the leader of Fuerza Popular and daughter of autocrat Alberto Fujimori, who this Sunday faces leftist Roberto Sánchez in the runoff of the elections in Peru.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected any foreign intervention in the presidential elections on June 21. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Government of Colombia, expresses its deep concern and rejects any manifestation of support, pressure, or external intervention that seeks to interfere in the development of the electoral process of the Republic of Colombia,” reads a press release, which is in line with a column by Foreign Minister Yolanda Villavicencio published in this newspaper.
Meanwhile, the Registrar’s Office has presented the ballot that will be delivered in the second round elections on June 21. The ballot consists of three boxes. The first is for Iván Cepeda with his running mate, Aida Quilcué. The second, for Abelardo de la Espriella, with José Manuel Restrepo. The third, for the blank vote. The order is the same as that drawn on March 25 for the first round.
The right commemorates Miguel Uribe Turbay one year after the attack against him
This Sunday, June 7, marks one year since the fateful attack in Bogotá against Senator Miguel Uribe Trubay, who died two months later at the Santa Fe clinic. Various figures from the Colombian right have prepared tributes in memory of the assassinated senator. The far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, for example, has asked his followers to raise the Colombian flag in their homes. “I will raise the flag of the homeland in my house to honor the memory of that martyr,” he said on his social media. For her part, Uribista senator Paloma Valencia has shared the schedule of masses that will be held in tribute to Miguel Uribe in different cities across the country.
Abelardo de la Espriella insists on a debate on Semana and with vice-presidential running mates
The far-right candidate responds to his left-wing rival, Iván Cepeda. Although he does not explicitly reject the senator’s proposal to have a debate on three television channels, he insists on the invitation made by a media outlet with an editorial line that favors him.
Abelardo de la Espriella speaks with Keiko Fujimori on the eve of the presidential elections in Peru
Abelardo de la Espriella, the far-right candidate in the second round of the presidential elections in Colombia, spoke in a video call this Saturday with Keiko Fujimori, the leader of Fuerza Popular who this Sunday faces leftist Roberto Sánchez in the runoff of the elections in Peru.
“Keiko, like me, faces a radical left-wing candidate in Peru and tomorrow will experience a decisive day for the democracy of the region,” de la Espriella wrote on his social media, without mentioning Senator Iván Cepeda, his rival in the June 21 elections, by name. “I congratulate you for your bravery,” the daughter of autocrat Alberto Fujimori replied.
Cepeda demands a presidential debate from De la Espriella, and asks Caracol Televisión, RCN, and RTVC to host it
Senator Iván Cepeda, the candidate of the Historical Pact, has again demanded a presidential debate this Saturday from the far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, his rival in the second round on June 21. The left-wing candidate announced that he intends to ask three media outlets to host: Caracol Televisión, RCN, and RTVC, the public media system. The two finalists had avoided debating with other candidates until the first round last Sunday.
In the same statement, from the city of Cali, Cepeda accused De la Espriella of running a “dirty” digital campaign, and even of possible illicit financial dealings and vote-buying schemes. He announced that he is delegating the collection of information, as well as the making of legal and judicial decisions on the matter, to lawyer Miguel Ángel del Río, a progressive activist.
Iván Cepeda: “Abelardo De la Espriella and his social media ‘bodegas’ are using AI to send false messages”
Candidate Iván Cepeda accused Abelardo de la Espriella’s campaign this Friday of using artificial intelligence to spread lies. “Mr. de la Espriella, his publicists, and his ‘bodegas’ are using artificial intelligence to send false messages in which I supposedly launch insults and aggressions against certain sectors of the country. All of that is lies and falsehood, because they cannot win with the truth,” Cepeda said from a march in the city of Ibagué.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry rejects any foreign intervention in the elections
The Colombian Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected any foreign intervention in the presidential elections on June 21. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Government of Colombia, expresses its deep concern and rejects any manifestation of support, pressure, or external intervention that seeks to interfere in the development of the electoral process of the Republic of Colombia,” reads a press release. “Decisions about the political future of the nation are exclusively the responsibility of the Colombian people, through the free, sovereign, and democratic exercise of their right to vote. Any statement or action by foreign actors aimed at favoring or harming candidacies, parties, or political projects constitutes an inadmissible interference in the democratic course that has marked Colombia’s history.”
Roy Barreras questions Iván Cepeda’s campaign: “It seems paralyzed”
Former presidential candidate Roy Barreras on Friday questioned the campaign of left-wing senator Iván Cepeda. In an interview with Blu Radio, the former ambassador and senator asserted that the progressive campaign needs to open up to other center sectors to win in the second round. “While De la Espriella’s campaign this week has announced the endorsements of Paloma Valencia, David Luna, Juan Carlos Pinzón, Leonardo Huerta, Donald Trump, and Georgia Meloni, the progressive campaign seems paralyzed. And I say this with anguish.” Barreras published a photo with President Gustavo Petro on Thursday.
Hundreds of young people march in Bogotá in favor of Iván Cepeda
Hundreds of young people marched this Friday afternoon through the streets of northern Bogotá in favor of candidate Iván Cepeda. Supporters of the left-wing senator, who will face far-right Abelardo de la Espriella in the second round, walked along Carrera Séptima. Every afternoon this week there have been artistic and peaceful demonstrations in support of the candidate who proposes to continue the political project of Gustavo Petro’s government.
The Liberal Party invites its members to vote for Abelardo de la Espriella
The Liberal Party on Friday invited its members to vote for the far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. “The Senate and House benches of the Liberal Party, which have just been elected by three million Colombians, have just decided, without consulting any campaign, to invite the grassroots to vote for the defense of the 1991 constitution. Although we have differences with the candidate, we recognize in Abelardo De la Espriella an unwavering conviction to assume the defense of the 1991 constitution,” reads a press release signed by former president César Gaviria, the party’s director.
The party, however, makes it clear that the decision is not mandatory and that its members are free to support the candidate of their choice. “There are voices within the party that have reservations about the meaning of this decision, and they will have the freedom in this process to vote for the candidate of their preference. Always and in all cases, we will be attentive to the defense of the 1991 constitution. We find that one of the campaigns no longer wants to collect signatures for a constituent assembly, a favorable development.”
The decision comes despite the fact that candidate de la Espriella published a message on X rejecting the support of the liberal congressmen.
President Petro again participates in politics: “Crime cannot come to power, because democracy ends”
President Gustavo Petro has again participated in politics despite the law prohibiting him from doing so. This time, during the promotion ceremony for new Army officers, he asserted that “crime cannot come to power, because democracy ends,” in a clear reference to candidate Abelardo de la Espriella.
ELECTIONS IN COLOMBIA
Sergio Fajardo: “The next Government will be the most difficult in Colombia’s recent history”
Sergio Fajardo (Medellín, 69 years old) will not run as a candidate in elections again. He expresses satisfaction with his last campaign, which he describes as “the most difficult” of his life. The presidential second round will be decided on June 21 between left-wing senator Iván Cepeda and far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella. The mathematician who governed Medellín, the professor, obtained 4.2% in the first round and was out of the race, in a distant fourth place but with a million votes that, he affirms, are worth gold in political terms.
The day before attending EL PAÍS in the dining room of his apartment on the eastern hills of Bogotá, with superb views of a ravine, he presented a decalogue in which he called, among other points, for an end to polarization and hatred, while avoiding taking sides with Cepeda or De la Espriella. He also rejected the call for a National Constituent Assembly, a resisted idea that the Government of Gustavo Petro has abandoned. “I am at peace, calm, happy; after so many things, I still have energy,” he states at the beginning of this conversation.
Read the full interview here.
Elections in Colombia
The Colombian diaspora boosts Abelardo de la Espriella’s victory
There are no tigers in Colombia, but the far-right discourse of Abelardo De La Espriella, the candidate who identifies with that animal, has gone around the world. An unexpected winner of the first presidential round, the criminal lawyer obtained 54% of the almost 600,000 votes registered abroad, with 319,988 endorsements. He surpassed Iván Cepeda, the left-wing candidate with whom he will dispute the second round on June 21, by 26 percentage points. The senator from the ruling Historical Pact party obtained 28% of the votes (167,526), while the established right-wing candidate, Paloma Valencia, was relegated to a distant third place, with less than half of those votes: 54,549.
Read the full news here.
The director of the UNGRD resigns after being suspended for alleged political participation
Carlos Carrillo, the director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) has resigned this Friday, as he himself confirmed in a dialogue with El Espectador. Carrillo was suspended on Tuesday by the Attorney General’s Office for alleged political participation for calling Abelardo de la Espriella’s presidential candidacy “an openly fascist project.”
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The still director of the UNGRD is awaiting the Casa de Nariño’s acceptance of his resignation, which would join that of the director of the National Land Agency, Felipe Harman, who resigned to join Iván Cepeda’s campaign.
Paloma Valencia requests an audit of 218 polling stations where Cepeda received 100% of the votes
Former Uribista candidate, Paloma Valencia, has urged electoral authorities to conduct an audit of 218 polling stations where the leftist candidate, Iván Cepeda, obtained 100% of the votes. According to data collected by the senator, these polling stations are located in Cauca, Nariño, Chocó, and Catatumbo, areas historically affected by armed conflict.
“168 of those polling stations are in PDET municipalities, where armed groups such as FARC dissidents and the ELN exercise territorial control (…). More than 15,500 unanimous votes are no coincidence,” she denounced.
ELECTIONS IN COLOMBIA
Pedro Sánchez: “The promise to end drug trafficking in 90 days is impossible”
Colombia’s Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, granted this interview on the sidelines, at breakneck speed. First, at the Bogotá air base, where a group of journalists from international media awaited President Gustavo Petro to fly with him to Putumayo to visit a coca crop substitution zone, on a plane that never took off. Then, at the Casa de Nariño, where the president summoned some correspondents to talk only about substitution. This Thursday, at least, he did not want to talk about politics, campaigns, or the electoral results he questioned. He travels next week to New York to meet with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and, incidentally, demonstrate to the United Nations that his Government does combat drug trafficking.
Colombian current affairs, however, are moving in another direction, beyond crop substitution. The country is focused on the second presidential round, which will be decided on June 21, with two antagonistic candidates. In everything, but mainly in security: Iván Cepeda, the officialist candidate, who speaks of the structural causes of violence and opts for negotiation; Abelardo de la Espriella, who calls Sánchez a “mockery” of a minister and promises to achieve in 90 days what neither he nor any other minister has achieved until now.
Read the full interview here.
Mexican magnate Ricardo Salinas backs far-right Abelardo de la Espriella
Ricardo Salinas, one of Latin America’s richest men, has backed the candidacy of far-right Abelardo de la Espriella. “I want to congratulate businessman De la Espriella for his overwhelming victory over the corrupt Colombian political class, in the first round of the elections. Colombia and Mexico deserve governments that pursue and combat those who break the law,” the Mexican magnate said in a post on X.
“For the movement, his statement validates that Abelardo’s independent and pragmatic model is viewed with hope by the global right,” responded the Defensores de la Patria movement, founded by the Colombian candidate.
At the end of 2025, Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered Salinas to pay a multi-million dollar sum to the Treasury in a judicial case that lasted years and was finally decided against the magnate. The businessman has been riding the wave of the culture war for some time. From his X account, he has spent the last few years attacking anything that smelled of leftism, feminism, or social policies.
Ballot for the second presidential round. / National Registry
The Registrar’s Office reveals the ballot for the second round
The Registrar’s Office has presented the ballot that will be delivered in the second round elections on June 21. The ballot consists of three boxes. The first is for Iván Cepeda with his running mate, Aida Quilcué. The second, for Abelardo de la Espriella, with José Manuel Restrepo. The third, for the blank vote. The order is the same as that drawn on March 25 for the first round.
Cepeda adds 32 football fan groups to his campaign
The fight over who claims the football flag continued this Friday, after pro-Petro candidate Iván Cepeda announced that 32 fan groups and 18 collectives from different Colombian teams had joined his campaign. They did so with a symbolic handover of a Colombian national team jersey, an item that is at the center of the electoral dispute.
“This is not a mere commercial object, it represents us as a nation, it is a symbol that unites us. It belongs to no one, it belongs to all of us, and that is why we cannot allow it to be stolen from us. We cannot let someone come and arrogate the power to say that it represents their ideals,” said Cepeda, who has promised a social fan group program.
Shakira denounces a montage linking her to Cepeda’s campaign: “I do not endorse any candidate”
Shakira has denounced in a statement sent to Hola! magazine the use of her image for political campaigns in Colombia. Specifically, a montage went viral showing the Barranquilla singer alongside leftist candidate Iván Cepeda and his vice-presidential running mate, Aida Quilcué.
The poster was created and shared by the Wolfpack, Shakira’s fan club. For now, it has not been shared by Cepeda’s official campaign channels.
“The images circulating of me supporting presidential candidates are false. I do not endorse any candidate, nor have I authorized the use of my image in any campaign,” the artist responded to the media. She also states that her wish is for the elections on June 21 “to proceed with transparency and in an atmosphere of peace.”
Read the full news at this link.
De la Espriella’s campaign denounces that one of its headquarters in Bogotá has been attacked by “Petro and Cepeda collectives”
Abelardo de la Espriella’s campaign has denounced that its Teusaquillo headquarters in Bogotá has been attacked by “members of the hordes of maladjusted individuals.” Jaime Andrés Beltrán, national regions manager for the campaign, said that these were “Petro and Cepeda collectives” and assured that they tried to forcibly enter the building and assaulted campaign members.
Videos shared by the Defensores de la Patria movement show about twenty people demonstrating in front of the building. Several carried posters with images of pro-Petro candidate Iván Cepeda and his vice-presidential running mate, Aida Quilcué.
“What they didn’t win at the polls, they want to win by setting the country on fire!” said Beltrán.
De la Espriella points to several politicians for alleged vote buying on the Caribbean Coast
Following the warning issued by the US Undersecretary of State that Colombians participating in fraudulent practices during the elections face visa cancellation, far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella has pointed to several politicians for allegedly buying votes in the Caribbean.
“In Soledad there is a very fierce vote buyer: Mr. Pulgar. What is happening in Sucre is terrible and we have identified Mr. Mario Fernández Alcocer. In Córdoba, the Calle gentlemen. In Cesar, Mr. Ape Cuello. And in Bolívar we have also identified some people,” De la Espriella indicated in a statement, referring only to politicians and figures who have not aligned with his candidacy.
National Registry
The Registrar’s Office shows that the ‘hash’ code of the Divipole program was not modified in the days leading up to the elections
The Registrar’s Office has refuted President Gustavo Petro’s claims about alleged modifications to the electoral software for the first round and, consequently, to the electoral roll. It presented data from the DIVIPOLE (Political Electoral Division) file, which the president claimed had been altered in the days leading up to the elections to add some 885,000 ID cards. The Hash code, an algorithm that prevents modifications, is the same on three different dates: May 26, May 31, and June 4. “It matches before, during, and after the election day last Sunday, May 31, which certifies that the file was not modified, and guarantees the integrity and transparency of the democratic process,” reads a statement.
The data was presented at a meeting at the Registrar’s Office headquarters in Bogotá. The Comptroller’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, electoral observation missions, and delegates from the Ministry of Interior participated.
“This Hash code proves that any download of this type of file cannot be altered because the codes will always be the same,” emphasized the registrar, Hernán Penagos, who added that the file size is the same on all three dates. “You can download these files once, 100, or 1000 times and the Hash code is never modified. On the contrary: the trace of the moments they were downloaded remains.”
Beyond the lack of alterations in the algorithm, the MOE found on Wednesday an alternative explanation for President Petro’s figures on alleged fraud in last Sunday’s first round. It explained in a report that several of the numbers cited by the president appear in the electoral logistics data for Colombians voting abroad. An example is the 885,409 ID cards that Petro pointed to as last-minute additions to the electoral roll. In reality, “they are a projection of the people who could go to vote from Monday to Saturday [abroad] and who are already part of the electoral roll of each consulate.” “Their objective is to operationalize the legal mandate to open polling stations abroad from the Monday prior to election day in national territory,” the document reads.
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