Colombians head to the polls this Sunday for a tight presidential runoff election. The vote pits far-right lawyer and conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella against left-wing candidate Ivan Cepeda.
Ivan Cepeda, a soft-spoken senator and the political heir to outgoing president Gustavo Petro, promises continuity with the departing leftist president. He is described as a hero to the left after taking on a right-wing president in court.
Abelardo de la Espriella enters the runoff as the favorite. The far-right candidate has received an endorsement from President Trump.
The two candidates possess personal histories intertwined with Colombia's paramilitaries, which were private armies established by right-wing landowners, drug traffickers, businessmen, mining magnates, and politicians to fight left-wing guerrilla groups. Their opposing visions for the country are set against the backdrop of a decades-long armed conflict that claimed nearly half a million lives.