BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's new president will be sworn into office Friday amid tight security measures aimed at preventing protests and potential attacks by rebel groups.
Abelardo de la Espriella, an outspoken conservative who has been praised by President Trump, has promised to confront rebel groups in Colombia with greater military force while cutting government spending to reduce a budget deficit that doubled under outgoing President Gustavo Petro.
De la Espriella, a former criminal defense lawyer who ran as a political outsider, is breaking with tradition by holding his inauguration ceremony in Cali rather than the capital, Bogotá. The 48-year-old chose the southwestern city, which has been hit hard by drug violence and attacks from rebel groups, as the site of his swearing-in.
Some 11,000 troops have been deployed to the city to ensure the safety of the new president and the roughly dozen heads of state attending the inauguration.
Those expected to attend include Argentina's Javier Milei, Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and Chile's José Antonio Kast, alongside U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and King Felipe VI of Spain.
Drones have been banned, and privately owned vehicles will not be allowed on city roads during Inauguration Day.
"One of the fundamental priorities of my government will be to exert control of our territory," de la Espriella said in a speech earlier this week. "If we don't control our cities and our rural areas, this nation will lose its sovereignty."
Over the past four years, drug gangs and rebel groups linked to decades of political conflict in Colombia have become increasingly powerful in rural areas, where they extort local businesses and profit from activities such as illegal mining and the drug trade.
Petro, a progressive, attempted to negotiate peace agreements with many of these groups under a strategy known as "Total Peace". But critics say the strategy failed, with some armed groups using ceasefires granted by the government to rearm, regroup and expand their control over rural communities.
De la Espriella has said he will end peace talks with Colombia's rebel groups and confront them with greater military force.
The wealthy lawyer, who has never held elected office, supports a tougher approach to crime that includes building large prisons and using aerial spraying and drones to destroy illegal coca crops, a practice Colombia halted more than a decade ago because of environmental concerns.
Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that with de la Espriella, "the pendulum swings back to the right" after four years of a left-leaning administration that struggled to achieve results in negotiations with armed groups.
She said increased military pressure could help weaken rebel groups and encourage some fighters to demobilize, but completely ending the possibility of future talks could be counterproductive.
"We're talking about a conflict that has an estimated 27,000 individuals involved in different armed and criminal groups," Dickinson said. "These individuals will need a route back into normal life."
De la Espriella won Colombia's presidential election by about 250,000 votes, defeating left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda by roughly one percentage point.
He is the latest conservative leader elected in Latin America as voters increasingly focus on crime and security concerns.
Right-wing leaders have recently won elections in Peru, Chile and Ecuador, reflecting a conservative shift in parts of South America.
These politicians have sought closer alignment with the Trump administration on issues such as immigration and anti-drug policies.
De la Espriella has expressed support for the Trump administration's controversial campaign of militarly strikes against vessels suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, in which more than 200 people have been killed.
He is also expected to speed up the extradition of rebel leaders wanted in the United States on drug charges. He has begun aligning Colombia's foreign policy with Washington by cutting diplomatic ties with Cuba and restoring relations with Israel.
Domestically, de la Espriella has said he wants to cut government spending by as much as 40% to reduce the growing budget deficit. He has already announced plans to close 14 Colombian embassies in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
But de la Espriella will have to build a majority in Colombia's fragmented Congress if he wants to push through deeper reforms, said Sergio Guzmán, a political analyst in Bogotá.
The new president also faces opposition from Petro, who has refused to acknowledge the election result and claimed, without providing credible evidence, that the vote count was rigged.
Guzmán said the fraud allegations could fuel protests against de la Espriella's government among Colombians who are already concerned that his anti-crime policies could lead to human rights abuses by security forces.
"Petro is going to be a constant nuisance for De la Espriella," Guzmán said. "But I think De la Espriella is ready for a fight with Petro, both rhetorically and potentially on the streets.
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