Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella is taking an aggressive approach to fighting the country’s cartels. Known as “El Tigre,” he won office on a law-and-order platform, and his campaign against armed groups appears to be producing results — while also drawing support from Washington.
One recent operation began before dawn, when de la Espriella arrived at the police command in Barranquilla. Some 587 police officers and soldiers were carrying out raids at 50 sites across the Caribbean port city and nearby areas as part of Operation Blindaje 360.
Days earlier, Colombian media had reported on an intercepted recording in which a man identified as “Keko,” alleged leader of the gang Los del Freseo, mocked the president and threatened him. In a video later released by the presidential office, de la Espriella confronts Keko in person. He tells the alleged gang leader that he had sounded fearless on the phone, but looked afraid face to face — much like the people he had victimized. The operation ended with 72 arrests.
The scene played well with Colombians who felt former President Gustavo Petro’s policy of pursuing talks with armed groups had left the country more exposed to organized crime. Critics also argued that the approach allowed Colombian and Venezuelan criminal groups to expand into areas where law enforcement had lost its grip.
De la Espriella’s government is now working to undo Petro’s “total peace” policy, which sought negotiations with several armed organizations. Before taking office, de la Espriella said he would roll back major parts of the policy and reinstate arrest warrants for members of illegal armed groups.
Nearly three months into his term, the 48-year-old lawyer has ended his predecessor’s peace talks, ordered that armed groups be treated as terrorist organizations and reported more than 32,000 arrests. His campaign is also being carried out in close coordination with Washington.
A dual U.S.-Colombian citizen who lived in Miami before his presidential run, de la Espriella has brought Colombia into President Donald Trump’s anti-cartel coalition. Last month, he personally handed over a guerrilla leader accused of supplying Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The prisoner, Geovany Andrés Rojas, known as “Araña,” is alleged to have led the Comandos de la Frontera dissidents and faces narco-terrorism charges in Southern California.
“Dialogue has run its course,” de la Espriella told troops after his Aug. 7 inauguration. In an Oct. 12 address, he said the government had made 32,503 arrests, taken 33 alleged leaders out of action and destroyed or disabled 679 drug-production sites. He has also signed more than 100 extradition orders, including five involving former armed-group negotiators wanted in the United States. The previous government had paused those transfers.
The offensive has extended into rural areas. Conflict monitor ACLED recorded August as the deadliest month for clashes between Colombian security forces and armed groups since it began tracking the country in 2018.
In late August, de la Espriella warned FARC dissident leader Iván Mordisco that a bomb could strike when he least expected it. Two days later, the president visited an army base in Guaviare, where the bodies of 23 suspected dissidents had been laid out in bags. Troops also killed a senior commander of a trafficking group with paramilitary roots in La Guajira.
Colombia joined Trump’s Shield of the Americas coalition in August as its 19th member. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Bogotá had approved joint military operations against terrorist groups and networks inside the country. The U.S. administration has proposed $1 billion in security assistance, subject to congressional approval, and Marine Gen. Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, has visited Colombian military bases.
Colombian Vice President José Manuel Restrepo said the country supports Trump’s effort to build a regional security alliance, but emphasized that Colombian forces — not U.S. troops — would conduct operations against armed groups in Colombia.
Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at Washington’s Stimson Center and a former White House South America director, described the recent period of strained cooperation as unusual. He said the United States and Colombia had worked closely for decades against guerrillas and organized crime, and noted that Plan Colombia had won support from both major U.S. political parties. Colombia’s military, he added, is experienced and well trained, making closer cooperation an important part of Washington’s renewed focus on regional security.
But Gedan cautioned that highly visible military strikes are not enough to dismantle criminal networks. These groups have substantial weapons and funding, he said, and are able to thrive in places where the state has little presence. Images of dead suspects or destroyed boats may suggest progress, but a more comprehensive strategy is needed to weaken the groups over time.
Oscar Palma, a security studies professor at the University of Rosario in Bogotá, said it is too soon to know whether the policy shift will work. He said Colombians remain divided over whether a more forceful approach will make them safer: some believe gangs are fighting harder to protect their territory and businesses, while others expect a sustained police presence to reduce organized crime.
Palma also rejected the idea that Colombia must choose between all-out conflict and negotiations. Neither approach alone, he argued, is likely to eliminate armed groups. He pointed to former President Juan Manuel Santos’s handling of talks with the FARC as a more effective model, saying negotiations were paired with military pressure and efforts to bring members of the group to justice.
Restrepo said the region is experiencing renewed support for democracy, freedom and market-based economies, and urged leaders to make use of that momentum. He described the Shield of the Americas as an opportunity to strengthen and preserve democracy across the region.
