U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) to rebuild relations with Colombia, saying the two allied nations had drifted apart under the previous leftist government in Bogota.

In a swipe at leftist former President Gustavo Petro’s administration, Mr. Rubio said President Abelardo de la Espriella’s government had inherited “a series of disasters” and was confronting “the mistakes of the last four years.”

Mr. Rubio spoke in Barranquilla after talks with De la Espriella and the signing of agreements on critical minerals supply chains and civilian nuclear cooperation.

He said the United States and Colombia had an opportunity not only to restore their “natural relations” but also to enter a new phase of cooperation “even stronger” than before.

The visit is the first stop on a Latin American tour designed to strengthen ties with a new crop of conservative pro-U.S. leaders in the region.

Mr. Rubio will also travel to Ecuador and Peru, where Washington is seeking to deepen security cooperation and bolster efforts against drug trafficking and organised crime.

Colombia’s right-wing President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella said on Monday (July 13, 2026) he would be sworn in at a military facility in the country’s south, despite opposition from outgoing leader Gustavo Petro.

Mr. Petro ordered on Sunday (July 12, 2026) that “no military establishment be used” for the August 7 swearing-in. The law stipulates that the ceremony must be held before Congress in Bogota.

Mr. De la Espriella said on social media he would be sworn in “at a military garrison in the south of the country to pay a solemn tribute to the heroes of the homeland and to the military personnel who protect democracy, freedom, and institutional stability.”

Lacking a majority, the President-elect has asked the new Congress, which is set to convene on July 20, to allow the ceremony to be held on a military base.

However, experts say it would be complicated to gather all members of Congress at the chosen location.

Mr. De la Espriella centered his presidential campaign on “iron fist” security policies, supporting military action against criminal groups.

Mr. Petro alleges fraud in the runoff vote and has called on his supporters to protest on July 20, when he will also give his farewell address as president.

 Colombian right wing candidate Abelardo ‌De La Espriella looked poised to ​win the country’s Sunday (June 21, 2026) presidential race, ⁠notching just under 50% of the vote, with nearly 95% of ballot boxes counted, data from ‌the country’s national registry office showed.

His rival, the leftist Ivan Cepeda, ‌was some 368,000 votes behind with 48.4%. De ‌La ⁠Espriella, 47, has proposed a ⁠tough crackdown on crime, as well as the end to peace talks with armed groups and a ​boost to Colombia’s oil ‌and gas sector.

Mr. Cepeda, 63, has vowed to continue the policies of President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and the country’s ‌first leftist president, which include state pension ​payments for the poor, union-backed labor reforms, peace talks with armed ⁠groups that have fought the state for decades and a moratorium on new oil projects.

Mr. De ‌La Espriella blames Mr. Petro for the country’s economic and security woes and has vowed to lower taxes and reduce the size of the state by up to 40%, but has said he will ‌preserve Mr. Petro’s 23% increase in the minimum wage, along ​with other popular social measures.

Whoever wins will grapple with high public debt ⁠and a divided Congress, which could stymie reform ⁠proposals.

Some 4,00,000 voters turned in blank ballots, usually seen as a protest ‌vote.

Colombians began voting in a presidential runoff on Sunday (June 21, 2026), choosing between a hard-right, White House-backed lawyer and a leftist senator to decide the fate of a stumbling peace process and strained ties with Washington.

Up to 41 million voters will choose between frontrunner Abelardo de la Espriella and his leftist rival Ivan Cepeda — the latest in a series of hyper-polarized Latin American elections.

Security issues dominated a campaign marred by guerrilla bomb attacks and the murder of a leading conservative Presidential candidate.

“I have to say, there is a certain fear,” 59-year-old Alex Vizcaino told AFP while voting in the Caribbean coast city of Barranquilla. “It’s the first election where you feel this bit of fear.”

“There are a lot of fanatics. You see a lot of violence,” he said. “I think everyone’s hope, regardless of political color, is that things change.”

De la Espriella, a dual U.S.-Colombian national who calls himself “The Tiger,” won May’s first-round vote by promising to wage war on drug-running guerrilla groups who refused to sign a 2016 peace accord.

He has won President Donald Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” and hopes to ride a right-wing wave that has swept rightist candidates to power in Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Honduras.

From behind bulletproof glass and with a military salute, he has rallied support with a cry of “stand firm for the homeland!”

He told AFP that if elected, he wants U.S. backing for a 90-day campaign of airstrikes against armed groups producing coca, the raw material of cocaine.

He advocates the right to carry arms, construction of mega-prisons, fracking, cutting the size of the state, and has said that it would be “ideal” to dollarize Colombia’s economy.

Mr. Cepeda is a 63-year-old philosopher-turned-senator and human rights defender and has been a key figure behind the current government’s policy of negotiating “total peace” with armed groups.

He is the son of a communist senator killed by right-wing paramilitaries and is the political heir to outgoing President Gustavo Petro — who is constitutionally barred from running.

Critics say Mr. Petro’s leftist government has allowed armed groups to grow richer from trafficking, expand their territory and gain power.

Mr. Cepeda recently told AFP that he would “take stock” of peace talks and “make the necessary changes.” He has long favoured dialogue over an iron fist security approach.

Mr. Cepeda’s support comes mainly from progressives and the poor — who have benefited from a reduction in poverty, higher wages, and lower unemployment in what is still one of the most unequal countries in the world.

The first round of voting showed a total collapse of Colombia’s political center and the traditional right, which has run the country for much of the last two centuries.

During that vote, Mr. De la Espriella garnered 44% of the vote, against Mr. Cepeda’s 41%, with neither getting the majority needed to avoid a Sunday’s runoff.

A former mayor allied with presidential candidate Abelardo de La Espriella was shot dead in Colombia’s heartland, local authorities said Saturday (May 17, 2026). One of his aides was also killed.

The killings of Rogers Devia and his staffer Eder Cardona were the latest incident of political violence in a region under dispute by two groups labelled as terrorists by the U.S. government and a third group — a splinter of the once dominant guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Devia died in an attack by gunmen in the rural area of Cubarral, a city he governed between 2020-2023 lying 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of the capital Bogota, said the Public Defender’s Office of the department of Meta in a posting on X.

Mr. De La Espriella represents the National Salvation Movement.

The Public Defender’s Office said the killings could hurt “the exercise of political rights and democratic participation” ahead of Colombia’s presidential elections, which take place May 31.

There will be at least half a dozen candidates competing in the election, including two members of smaller left-wing parties. If none of them gets 50% of the votes a run off will take place in June between the top two contenders.

Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said on his social media channels that investigators do not know why Devia was attacked. The Minister added that police had recently stopped an attack against a staffer of another presidential candidate, Paloma Valencia, in the same city.