Colombia's new right-wing president sworn in

**Charlotte Gallagher** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Saturday the 8th of August, these are our main stories. Colombia's new president has been sworn into office and promises to hunt down cartels like rats. Donald Trump is forced to hit pause on his plan to build a $400 million ballroom in the White House. The BBC tracks down the spy chief of Syria's former dictator, Faisal al-Assad. Also in this podcast, the thousand child migrants currently stuck in the Spanish territory of Ceuta.
We start the podcast in Colombia, where Abelardo de la Espriella has been sworn in as the country's new president.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:54)
A oath of oath to the Vice President of the Republic of Colombia, elected Jose Manuel, Restrepo Abondano.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (1:04)
The ceremony was held in the southwestern city of Cali, rather than the capital, Bogotá. In his speech, the right-wing president, who is a supporter and ally of Donald Trump, vowed to improve security and tackle drug traffickers and armed groups.

**Abelardo de la Espriella** (1:21)
From Cali, a city so closely linked to national life and the capital of a province that has suffered the scourge of terrorism, drug trafficking and the actions of violent groups, I send a firm message to the Colombian people. The time has come to restore order, authority and freedom.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (1:40)
Some of the region's other right-wing leaders were there, including Argentina's Javier Millay, BBC Mundo's Colombia correspondent, José Carlos Cueto López, told me more about the new president.

**José Carlos Cueto López** (1:52)
He was pretty much unknown in the political sphere before launching his presidential candidacy in July 2025 He describes himself as a political outsider and a high-profile lawyer who built much of his public profile through the media and social media. He describes himself as an admirer of Donald Trump. They both share the preference for a tough approach to crime, free market, economic policies, and conservative and often religious speech. In fact, Trump endorsed him during the campaign, and many analysts now expect a new chapter in the relationship between Colombia and the United States. And that relationship is important not only economically, but also in terms of security because for decades, Colombia has been one of Washington's closest security partners in Latin America.
Both de la Espriella and Trump share, as I was saying, preference for using the military to tackle organized crime and drug trafficking and approach that has also attacked criticism from human right groups. So yeah, I would say that he's a figure who attracts strong support, but also strong opposition.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (2:57)
And you mentioned that this relationship with Donald Trump. I wondered if anything had been said then about Colombians that were killed by the US military, you know, for allegedly being drug traffickers off the coast of Colombia. Has that come up in the campaign at all?

**José Carlos Cueto López** (3:11)
De la Espriella himself has promised to bomb drug trafficking camps, drug trafficking vessels, and that strategy pretty much echoes the one that Trump is developing right now that has left more than 200 people killed in South American waters since last August in 2025 So I would say that de la Espriella is willing to take a very strong stance against armed groups in the country.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (3:36)
I think I read that he said he was going to hunt cartels down like rats. And is the security situation and the power of cartels in Colombia, is that very concerning for just normal voters, the impact that it's having on their lives?

**José Carlos Cueto López** (3:51)
Yeah, it has been a primary concern in Colombia pretty much since the armed conflict started 60 years ago. The reality is that since the peace accords were signed between the state and the FARC rebel groups in 2016, pretty much shortly after that in 2018, armed groups started to regroup again and become more powerful. And part of that is because there are profound, deep situations that have not been solved and serve as a fertile ground for the proliferation of crime, which is the extreme inequality and what is called here the absence of the state and the institutions in many remote areas that have, for example, many areas of coca leaf crops.

**Charlotte Gallagher** (4:38)
And does this victory represent a general shift in that region towards right-wing politics, do you think?

**José Carlos Cueto López** (4:46)
Yes, definitely. If you look at the political map right now, the only two countries, at least in South America, that don't have a right-wing government at the moment are Abelardo de la Espriella and Uruguay. But definitely, with all these right governments in the region, Donald Trump will be closer to succeeding his strategy to have more influence over the region with what is called the Don't Row doctrine.