The right-wing presidential candidate in Colombia promises to bomb drug traffickers with US support
Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. Photo: Luis ACOSTA / AFP / Profimedia
The right-wing opposition's main candidate in Colombia's May presidential election said in an interview with AFP on Wednesday that he would launch an air offensive, backed by the US and Israel, in his first 90 days in office to root out drug cartels.
From his campaign headquarters in Bogota, Abelardo de la Espriella promised to implement a “shock plan” to regain control of vast areas of the country under the influence of guerrillas and drug traffickers by “bombing narco-terrorist camps and burning down” coca fields, said the 47-year-old lawyer, who called himself “The Tiger”, notes Agerpres.
He plans to “equip” public forces with first-generation weapons, artificial intelligence, drones and, of course, a budget to increase “forces”. But, he believes, “this cannot be achieved without a strategic alliance with the US and Israel.”
Without any political experience and without ever having gone through an election, Abelardo de la Espriella, a millionaire businessman, presents himself as an “outsider” in the political world, but one who – he says – has “blood in the plant” to apply a hard line and drive the left from power.
Incumbent President Gustavo Petro, who cannot run for re-election, has tried in vain to negotiate peace with numerous armed groups.
For the most part, these talks are stalling, and under pressure from the US, Colombia's first left-wing president has stepped up his military offensive against drug trafficking in recent months. Colombia is the world's leading producer of cocaine.
The latest poll shows a close fight between Abelardo de la Espriella and the leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda, a close associate of Petro.
