Abelardo de la Espriella, also known as ‘El Tigre’, was sworn in as Colombia’s new president on August 6, 2026. The conservative lawyer and businessman, ‘El Tigre ’, explicitly rejected former president Petro’s total peace policy of negotiating with armed groups. El Tigre has declared the option of dialogue “completely exhausted.”
His new approach in the relationship between the federal government of Colombia and the cartels is to prioritize a military-led iron-fist crackdown.
Some of the things that he pledged during his campaign:
- to conduct aerial bombardment of these laboratories in the jungle areas,
- as well as aerial fumigation and eradication of cocoa crops,
- construction of an El Salvador-style mega prison,
- increased extraditions,
- and closer U.S. cooperation with the United States and their anti-narcotics efforts that have been broadly enforced across the region.
He has already moved quickly to take on the drug cartels that are destroying his country (and ours).
Colombian forces killed six members of illegal armed groups in two military operations over the weekend, President Abelardo de la Espriella said, marking the first major results of a security offensive launched just days after he took office, promising an aggressive crackdown on guerrillas and drug-trafficking organizations.
One operation in Meta assassinated four members of a dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Another two members of the Clan del Golfo, Colombia’s largest drug-trafficking organization, were killed in a separate operation in the northwestern department of Antioquia. This government report comes via the Miami Herald.
Additionally, Secretary of War Hegseth announced that Colombia has joined the A3C—Americas Counter Cartel Coalition—as the 19th member. Colombia has already requested that the Department of War join the nation in its fight against narco-terrorism.”
🚨 BREAKING: DAYS after being inaugurated, Colombia’s new right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella has just AUTHORIZED joint US military operations to target the cartels
Colombia has ALSO joined President Trump’s Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition 🔥
HEGSETH: “I’m proud to… pic.twitter.com/6ozKYmsjVy
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 12, 2026
