Colombia: An Early Test for the New Government

On August 7th, Abelardo de la Espriella was inaugurated as Colombia’s new president after winning an incredibly tight election. Three days later, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the western part of the country, leaving damages close to $10 billion and devastating hundreds of municipalities across 15 departments. It was an extraordinary early test for a president still in his first week in office. De la Espriella came to power promising Milei-style fiscal cuts, a hardline security plan, and a sharp break from Gustavo Petro’s four years in office: including restarting oil exploration, ending the total peace process, and launching joint military operations with the United States. Instead, his first major act was declaring a state of national emergency.

Today on the podcast, we explore what his agenda looks like now on security, the economy, and the fiscal situation and ask how much he will still be able to get done. Our guest is Mauricio Cárdenas, former presidential candidate and minister of finance and Senior Scholar at Columbia University.