Colombia inaugurates far-right De la Espriella as Petro era ends with diplomatic and policy reversals

A narrow victory and a new direction

Abelardo de la Espriella, a 48-year-old lawyer, will be sworn in as president of Colombia on Friday, August 7, in Cali, the first time a city other than Bogota hosts a presidential inauguration. He defeated leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda in the June 21 second round by approximately 250,000 votes, the narrowest margin in a Colombian runoff in recent history. De la Espriella will serve until 2030 and has promised to reverse nearly all of outgoing president Gustavo Petro's foreign policy.

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, leaves office with a mixed record. He delivered on some pillars of his program, including a minimum wage increase and tax and pension reforms, but departs without having achieved his ambitious "paz total" with armed groups. Several former ministers face preventive prison or trial, and Petro himself faces a last-minute accusation from his former chief of staff, with allegations ranging from diversion of emergency funds to vote-buying in Congress.

Diplomatic misstep before taking office

The inauguration was marred by a diplomatic controversy after 11 countries, ten European and one Asian, were not initially invited to the ceremony. The excluded nations included Ukraine, Armenia, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Georgia, Serbia, San Marino, Malta, and Cyprus. The Foreign Ministry noted in an internal memo signed on Monday that the exclusion could be interpreted as unequal treatment and could negatively affect bilateral relations. The memo highlighted that Ukraine's absence was particularly sensitive, as it could signal the incoming government's position on the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, especially since Russia had been invited.

The incoming government blamed the outgoing administration for the controversy and ultimately extended invitations to the excluded delegations. Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, Petro's deputy foreign minister, criticized the exclusion on Wednesday, calling it a "preocupante" message.

The incoming government has not understood the relevance of the relationship with the European Union.

Reversing Petro's foreign policy

De la Espriella has pledged to close Colombian embassies in 14 countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua, with which the incoming government will cut relations. The closures, justified as an austerity measure, would reverse Petro's diversification of foreign policy, which had opened diplomatic missions in African countries such as Senegal and Ethiopia, and Caribbean nations such as Haiti and Barbados.

The most consequential shift concerns Israel. Petro severed diplomatic relations with Israel on May 1, 2024, in response to the military offensive in Gaza. Relations will be restored starting Friday under a roadmap agreed in July in Washington between designated chancellor Omar Bula Escobar and Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar. The plan includes the return of ambassadors, reciprocal visa elimination, reactivation of economic and security cooperation, and the relocation of Colombia's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move not recognized by a majority of countries or the UN. Colombia will also withdraw its participation in the genocide case South Africa is pursuing against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

Inauguration attendees

The Arena USC in Cali will host King Felipe VI of Spain and the presidents of several Latin American nations: Javier Milei (Argentina), Jose Antonio Kast (Chile), Daniel Noboa (Ecuador), Santiago Pena (Paraguay), Rodrigo Paz (Bolivia), Jose Raul Mulino (Panama), Laura Fernandez (Costa Rica), Luis Abinader (Dominican Republic), and Nasry Asfura (Honduras). Israel will send its foreign minister, Brazil its foreign minister Mauro Vieira, and El Salvador and Guatemala their vice presidents. Many of these guests would not have been present had Cepeda won the June 21 runoff.