<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
<span name="selected"></span>
</div>
<div class="gmail-container" lang="en" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/08/11/774136/colombia-right-wing-win-deep-polarization-pro-us-alignment-restoration-israel-ties-analyst">presstv.co.uk</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Colombia's right-wing win reflects deep polarization as pro-US alignment, restoration of Israel ties loom: Analyst</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Presstv</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">August 11, 2026</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<img src="cid:ii_msosz0yy0" alt="image.png" width="450" height="253"><br><p><br>
<strong>By Mina Mosallanejad</strong></p>
<p><strong>The narrow victory of right-wing billionaire Abelardo de la
Espriella as Colombia\u2019s president reflects a deeply polarized and
divided Colombian society rather than a decisive mandate for the new
government, says a political commentator.</strong></p>
<p>De la Espriella, a lawyer and businessman who had never held public
office, defeated left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda in Colombia\u2019s June
presidential runoff by less than one percentage point, securing 49.66%
of the vote against Cepeda\u2019s 48.70%.</p>
<p>His victory marks a sharp shift to the right after the left-wing
government of President Gustavo Petro, who had developed closer ties
with Palestine and a foreign policy independent of US influence.</p>
<p>In an interview with the <em>Press TV website</em>, Vijay Prashad,
the executive director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social
Research and a political commentator, sees the Colombian election as
part of a broader rightward shift across Latin America.</p>
<p>He said de la Espriella\u2019s government is likely to bring Colombia
significantly closer to Washington, adopt a more militarized approach to
security and counternarcotics, restore ties with the Israeli regime and
move away from Petro\u2019s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.</p>
<p>He also warned that the new administration\u2019s hardline security agenda
could intensify tensions with opposition movements and human-rights
groups, while its closer alignment with Washington could deepen
Colombia\u2019s regional polarization.</p>
<p>Prashad also cautioned that de la Espriella\u2019s victory does not amount to an uncontested mandate.</p>
<p>The extremely narrow electoral margin, a divided Congress and
Colombia\u2019s deeply polarized society could make the next four years a
defining test of whether the new government can consolidate a lasting
political transformation or turn the country\u2019s political conflict into a
permanent confrontation between \u201corder\u201d and \u201cresistance,\u201d he noted.</p>
<p><strong>A narrow victory, a divided country</strong></p>
<p>According to Prashad, a vocal critic of neocolonialism and US
imperialism, de la Espriella\u2019s victory with an extremely narrow margin
over left-wing candidate Cepeda points to a deeply divided electorate.</p>
<p>\u201cColombian society is extremely polarized,\u201d Prashad told the <em>Press TV website</em>, describing the country as one marked by \u201cenormous extremes of wealth and income inequality.\u201d</p>
<p>He said these disparities are rooted in \u201colder oligarchical
structures that date back to the old colonial days\u201d and were later
reinforced by \u201cthe long period of effectively dictatorial rule by two
parties of this oligarchy.\u201d</p>
<p>According to Prashad, Colombia\u2019s Gini index stood at 54.38 in 2024,
while 31.8 percent of Colombians remained below the national poverty
line despite overall economic growth.</p>
<p>He linked the political opening that brought Petro to power in 2022
to the mass demonstrations of 2019-2020 and the 2016 peace accords.</p>
<p>Colombia\u2019s 2016 peace accord ended the government\u2019s decades-long war
with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), which was
Colombia\u2019s largest left-wing guerrilla group. It fought the Colombian
government for more than five decades, beginning in 1964, before signing
the 2016 peace agreement and laying down its arms.</p>
<p>But the peace accord\u2019s incomplete implementation, combined with deep
economic inequality, political polarization and police violence,
contributed to growing social unrest that erupted in mass protests in
2019 and again on a much larger scale in 2021.</p>
<p>Petro won 50.42 percent of the vote, benefiting from a population
that, according to Prashad, was increasingly agitated but also eager to
move beyond Colombia\u2019s long history of political division.</p>
<p>However, Petro\u2019s presidency did not fundamentally alter the balance of political forces, Prashad said.</p>
<p>\u201cWhile Petro did move an agenda on many issues, he was not able to
change the balance of forces in one presidential term,\u201d he told the <em>Press TV website.</em></p>
<p>As a result, Prashad sees the latest election as a movement back
toward Colombia\u2019s traditional power structures. \u201cThe needle went back to
the oligarchy,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>But that shift did not simply restore the old political order.
Traditional oligarchic candidates were unable to contain de la
Espriella\u2019s far-right challenge.</p>
<p>\u201cTheir preferred candidates could not hold off the far-right wing
challenge from de la Espriella,\u201d Prashad said, adding that the final
result, however, underscored the limits of his victory.</p>
<p><strong>Washington\u2019s ideological muscle</strong></p>
<p>US President Donald Trump\u2019s open endorsement of de la Espriella
during the election campaign, followed by Washington\u2019s announcement of a
major security assistance package, raises the question of how far US
political and financial backing may have shaped the outcome, Prashad
said.</p>
<p>Asked to what extent he believes Washington\u2019s support influenced
Colombia\u2019s election, he placed the Colombian vote within a much broader
US effort to reshape the political landscape of Latin America.</p>
<p>\u201cThe United States has made it clear that it would like to erase the
entire progressive and democratic force that was once dominant in Latin
America,\u201d the analyst stated, pointing to the broader regional shift to
the right, as only Brazil and Uruguay still have progressive forces in
power in the region.</p>
<p>\u201cElsewhere, the far-right has prevailed,\u201d he said, adding that these
forces have continued to consolidate support by building \u201cmajority blocs
around issues such as anti-immigration, anti-crime, and pro-capitalist
policies.\u201d</p>
<p>Prashad added that Washington has played an important role in
strengthening this political shift, particularly through its ideological
influence.</p>
<p>\u201cThe US has certainly helped these forces with its considerable ideological muscle,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>In Colombia, he pointed to clear evidence of an attempt by Washington to influence the election directly.</p>
<p>Two weeks before the runoff, Prashad noted, Trump gave de la
Espriella his \u201ccomplete and total endorsement,\u201d urged Colombians to
support him, and said the result would be important for Colombia\u2019s
relationship with the United States.</p>
<p>\u201cThere is clear evidence of attempted political influence in this
election in Colombia,\u201d Prashad said, noting that Trump\u2019s language went
beyond a routine political endorsement.</p>
<p>By tying the election result directly to Colombia\u2019s future
relationship with Washington, he said, Trump\u2019s intervention could
reasonably be understood \u201cas implying diplomatic or economic
consequences.\u201d</p>
<p><strong>Bogotá tilt toward Washington</strong></p>
<p>With de la Espriella now in power, the question of what his
presidency will mean for Colombia\u2019s relationship with the United States
becomes particularly significant.</p>
<p>Asked whether he expects Bogotá to become substantially more aligned
with Washington\u2019s foreign-policy priorities, Prashad predicted a major
shift away from the approach pursued by Petro.</p>
<p>\u201cDe La Espriella\u2019s election is likely to produce a substantial
realignment toward Washington, especially after the Petro years,\u201d
Prashad told the <em>Press TV website</em>.</p>
<p>He pointed to \u201cunusually strong early evidence of this shift,\u201d saying
de la Espriella\u2019s government has joined the US-led \u201cShield of the
so-called Americas\u201d initiative, adopted a harder counternarcotics
strategy, and received a proposed $1 billion US security package
immediately after his inauguration.</p>
<p>Washington itself, Prashad noted, has described the relationship as
entering a \u201cnew era,\u201d with regional security, migration and economic
cooperation at its center.</p>
<p>Prashad said he expects the alignment with Washington to become most
visible across four key areas: expanded military and intelligence
cooperation against drug cartels and armed groups; renewed coca
eradication efforts and the possible return of aerial spraying; closer
cooperation on migration and Venezuela; and more US-friendly policies on
energy and investment.</p>
<p>The foreign-policy shift is also likely to extend beyond Washington.
Prashad said he expects de la Espriella to restore diplomatic relations
with the Israeli regime as he has already announced, distance Colombia
from Cuba and Nicaragua, and expand oil and gas production.</p>
<p>Yet despite the strong indications of a strategic realignment,
Prashad does not expect Bogotá to simply follow Washington\u2019s lead on
every issue due to internal divisions.</p>
<p>\u201cDe la Espriella has a divided Congress, faces strong domestic
opposition, and must manage Colombia\u2019s economic relationships with China
and its Latin American neighbors,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>Prashad also warned that aggressive US-backed policies could trigger
legal challenges, human-rights criticism and nationalist resistance
inside Colombia.</p>
<p>\u201cMy expectation is therefore significant strategic alignment,
particularly on security and regional diplomacy, but selective autonomy
on trade and other issues where Colombian interests diverge,\u201d Prashad
told the <em>Press TV website.</em></p>
<p><strong>A return to interventionism?</strong></p>
<p>De la Espriella\u2019s support for joint military operations with the
United States, including the possibility of hosting US troops in
Colombia, raises the prospect of a major transformation in the country\u2019s
security policy, Prashad warned.</p>
<p>Asked whether this could mark a return to a more interventionist
model and what it could mean for Colombia\u2019s relations with Venezuela and
other governments in the region, Prashad said the shift could resemble
an earlier chapter in Colombia\u2019s security history \u2013 but potentially in a
more aggressive form.</p>
<p>\u201cYes, it could mark a return to an interventionist model resembling
Plan Colombia, but potentially with a more overtly kinetic and regional
character,\u201d Prashad said.</p>
<p>Plan Colombia was a US-backed so-called counternarcotics program
launched in the late 1990s that brought extensive US military,
intelligence and financial support to Colombia. Under de la Espriella,
Prashad expects the model to return with an even stronger emphasis on
direct military action.</p>
<p>\u201cDe la Espriella has advocated US bases, joint aerial eradication and
operations against \u2018narco-terrorist\u2019 targets,\u201d he said, adding that
such a policy would represent a significant departure from Petro\u2019s
approach, which placed greater emphasis on negotiations with armed
groups and rural development.</p>
<p>Prashad expects the new government to instead prioritize intelligence
sharing, extraditions, fumigation, special operations and military
control of contested territory.</p>
<p>However, he noted, the prospect of permanently stationing US forces in Colombia faces significant legal and political obstacles.</p>
<p>Prashad pointed to Article 189 of Colombia\u2019s Constitution, which
regulates the entry or transit of foreign troops, as well as the
requirement for congressional approval of formal international
agreements.</p>
<p>As a result, he believes a more gradual arrangement is likely.</p>
<p>\u201cIt is therefore more likely initially to involve rotational
deployments, advisers, intelligence personnel and access to Colombian
facilities than sovereign American \u2018bases\u2019,\u201d Prashad said.</p>
<p>He warned that a renewed military campaign could also reproduce some
of the failures associated with Plan Colombia, particularly its impact
on civilians and its inability to permanently eliminate armed groups and
coca cultivation.</p>
<p>\u201cOperations also risk civilian casualties, displacement and repeating
Plan Colombia\u2019s tendency to move armed groups and coca cultivation
elsewhere rather than eliminate them,\u201d he said.</p>
<p><strong>Venezuela caught in the crossfire</strong></p>
<p>The most immediate regional consequences could emerge along
Colombia\u2019s 2,200-kilometre border with Venezuela. Prashad warned that
Caracas \u2013 as well as armed groups operating on either side of the border
\u2013 could begin to view Colombia as a platform for expanding US power in
the region.</p>
<p>The risks are particularly serious because Bogotá has indicated that
its Venezuela policy will be closely coordinated with Washington, even
as Colombia remains deeply dependent on managing practical issues with
its neighbor, including migration, trade and armed organizations
operating across the border, Prashad told the <em>Press TV website.</em></p>
<p>\u201cAny cross-border pursuit, reconnaissance, or strike could therefore
trigger military incidents, border closures, proxy retaliation, or
another migration shock,\u201d he remarked.</p>
<p>Those risks, he added, may ultimately force de la Espriella to preserve direct communication with Caracas.</p>
<p><strong>A deeper regional divide</strong></p>
<p>The consequences would not be limited to Colombia and Venezuela.
According to Prashad, more interventionist security policy could deepen
the political polarization already visible across Latin America.</p>
<p>\u201cRegionally, the policy would deepen polarization,\u201d Prashad said,
expecting right-leaning governments such as Argentina, Ecuador, El
Salvador and Paraguay to welcome stronger US-Colombian security
cooperation.</p>
<p>By contrast, he said, Brazil, Mexico and other governments committed
to the principle of non-intervention would likely view permanent US
deployments or unilateral military strikes as threats to national
sovereignty.</p>
<p>Prashad sees a similar divide emerging from the reaction to the 2026
US attack on Venezuela and the abduction of it leader Nicolas Maduro.</p>
<p>\u201cColombia could consequently regain its role as Washington\u2019s leading
security partner in South America, but at the cost of weaker regional
trust and reduced ability to act as a diplomatic bridge,\u201d Prashad
warned.</p>
<p><strong>A dramatic shift on Palestine</strong></p>
<p>De la Espriella\u2019s strong support for Israel and his pledges to
restore full diplomatic ties with the regime, move Colombia\u2019s embassy to
occupied al-Quds and resume coal exports to Israeli-occupied
territories would represent a major departure from the foreign policy
pursued under Petro.</p>
<p>Asked how significant such a shift would be for Colombia and for its
longstanding support for the Palestinian cause, Prashad described it as a
\u201cmajor reversal\u201d of Petro\u2019s policy, although he noted that restoring
diplomatic and security ties would \u201cpartly revive Colombia\u2019s
historically close pre-2022 relationship with Israel.\u201d</p>
<p>For Prashad, however, the most consequential move would be relocating Colombia\u2019s embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied al-Quds.</p>
<p>\u201cThe more consequential step would be relocating the embassy from Tel
Aviv to [al-Quds] and align Colombia with a small group of strongly
pro-Israel governments,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>The decision to resume coal exports to Israeli-occupied territories
would also carry both material and symbolic importance, he added.</p>
<p>However, he explained, the importance of the trade is not equal for
both sides. While reopening exports would benefit Colombian producers
and restore commercial ties, Colombian coal has been considerably more
important to Israel\u2019s energy security than the trade has been to
Colombia\u2019s broader coal industry.</p>
<p>Before Petro imposed restrictions, Israel obtained more than half of
its imported coal from Colombia, while Colombian coal sales to the
Israeli regime exceeded $320 million in the first eight months of 2023,
he highlighted.</p>
<p>\u201cThus, exports mattered considerably more to Israeli energy security
than to Colombia\u2019s roughly $9 billion coal-export industry,\u201d Prashad
said.</p>
<p>That is also why the decision could carry consequences beyond trade.
Prashad noted that restoring coal exports to occupied territories would
remove one of Bogotá\u2019s most significant economic levers over Israel amid
the genocidal war on Gaza.</p>
<p><strong>What happens to Colombia\u2019s support for Palestine?</strong></p>
<p>The shift could be equally consequential diplomatically. Colombia\u2019s
formal recognition of the Palestinian state in 2018 would not
necessarily be revoked under de la Espriella, but Prashad warned that
recognition could become little more than a symbolic gesture.</p>
<p>\u201cFor Palestine, the shift would not necessarily revoke Colombia\u2019s
formal 2018 recognition of the Palestinian state, but it could make that
recognition largely symbolic,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>According to Prahsad, de la Espriella has reportedly cancelled plans for a Colombian mission in Palestine.</p>
<p>His government, he said, could also reverse several of Petro-era
positions at the United Nations, scale back diplomatic engagement with
Palestinian representatives and withdraw or soften Colombia\u2019s support
for legal proceedings concerning Israel at the International Court of
Justice.</p>
<p>The broader result, Prashad said, would go well beyond simply normalizing relations with Israel.</p>
<p>\u201cIt would move Colombia from Petro\u2019s position as one of Palestine\u2019s
strongest Latin American advocates to an explicitly pro-Israel
alignment,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>\u201cThat could improve defense, intelligence, agricultural and
technological cooperation with Israel and strengthen ties with
Washington,\u201d Prashad said, \u201cbut it would weaken Colombia\u2019s credibility
with Palestinian representatives, Arab governments, and states that see
recognition of [al-Quds] as prejudging a negotiated settlement.\u201d</p>
<p><strong>A harder, more militarized state</strong></p>
<p>De la Espriella\u2019s hardline positions on protesters, drug trafficking
and security raise another major question about the direction of
Colombia\u2019s domestic policy.</p>
<p>Prashad expects a substantial transformation of Colombia\u2019s security apparatus.</p>
<p>\u201cColombians should expect a substantial militarization and
reorientation of the security apparatus, though not necessarily an
across-the-board expansion of the state,\u201d Prashad said.</p>
<p>\u201cDe la Espriella simultaneously promises austerity and cuts to
civilian bureaucracy, so the probable pattern is greater funding and
authority for the military, police, intelligence agencies and prisons at
the expense of peace-building and social programs,\u201d he added.</p>
<p>Early signs of that direction, Prashad said, include proposals for
\u201curban security defence blocs,\u201d plans for Bukele-style mega-prisons and
renewed aerial coca fumigation.</p>
<p>De la Espriella has also pledged stronger military operations against
armed groups and could transfer the prison service to the Defense
Ministry, he noted.</p>
<p>On his first day in office, he ordered 117 prisoners associated with
peace negotiations to be transferred to high-security facilities. For
Prashad, these measures point to a fundamental departure from Petro\u2019s
approach.</p>
<p>\u201cThese measures suggest a shift from Petro\u2019s negotiation-based \u2018Total
Peace\u2019 policy toward deterrence, incarceration, and territorial
military control,\u201d he said.</p>
<p><strong>Opposition and human-rights concerns</strong></p>
<p>Conflict with opposition movements is also probable, Prashad said,
noting that since De la Espriella won the presidency by less than one
percentage point and does not have an uncontested mandate in Congress,
his government could face significant political resistance.</p>
<p>\u201cHuman-rights groups, unions, Indigenous organizations, environmental
activists, and the left have already begun forming coalitions to defend
constitutional rights, while his rhetoric depicts parts of the
opposition as allies of disorder or criminality,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>Yet Prashad stressed that a slide toward authoritarianism is not inevitable.</p>
<p>\u201cColombia\u2019s Constitutional Court, Congress, Procuraduría, Defensoría
del Pueblo, independent media, and the Inter-American human-rights
system can scrutinize decrees and security operations; even established
conservative parties have objected when de la Espriella appeared to
weaken civilian control of the armed forces,\u201d he highlighted.</p>
<p>For Prashad, the decisive question will ultimately be how the government uses its expanded security powers.</p>
<p>\u201cThe decisive test will be whether his government targets
demonstrable criminal conduct under judicial oversight or uses
national-security language to restrict peaceful dissent,\u201d he said.</p>
<p><strong>Colombia at a political crossroads</strong></p>
<p>Looking beyond the immediate transition, the bigger question is what
Colombia will look like over the next four to five years under a
strongly pro-US and pro-Israel right-wing government.</p>
<p>Prashad expects the country to move significantly to the right, but
argues that one presidential term alone may not be enough to permanently
transform its political identity.</p>
<p>\u201cDe la Espriella can rapidly change foreign policy, policing,
counternarcotics, and energy regulation; transforming Colombian society
or dismantling its institutional pluralism would require sustained
congressional support, popular legitimacy, and results that outlast
him,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>At the same time, Prashad expects de la Espriella to make sweeping changes to the country\u2019s security and economic direction.</p>
<p>\u201cHe will change the security framework of the country, embolden
corporations to loot the economy, become totally pro-Washington in its
foreign policy,\u201d Prashad said.</p>
<p>He also sees the emergence of a new political model that could move beyond Colombia\u2019s traditional right-wing politics.</p>
<p>The new government, he said, could \u201creplace traditional uribismo with
a more personalist mixture of nationalism, evangelical conservatism,
anti-left rhetoric, and Bukele-style security politics.\u201d</p>
<p>Uribismo refers to the political movement associated with former
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, whose emphasis on hardline security
policies and opposition to left-wing movements has shaped Colombia\u2019s
right for decades.</p>
<p>\u201cWhether this becomes a lasting political transformation depends on outcomes,\u201d Prashad said.</p>
<p><strong>The real test: Colombia\u2019s polarization</strong></p>
<p>Prashad identified the country\u2019s internal political divisions as the decisive factor.</p>
<p>\u201cThe most important test is polarized domestic politics, because it
determines whether the government can address every other challenge,\u201d he
said.</p>
<p>For Prashad, the central question is therefore not simply whether de
la Espriella can implement a more conservative and pro-US agenda. It is
whether he can govern within Colombia\u2019s constitutional framework despite
having won by an extremely narrow margin and facing a deeply divided
society.</p>
<p>\u201cDe la Espriella\u2019s defining challenge is whether he can use a narrow
mandate to govern constitutionally, or turn political conflict into a
permanent confrontation between \u2018order\u2019 and \u2018resistance\u2019,\u201d Prashad said.</p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
<br></div>