BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella announced Tuesday that he is halting the formal transition process with the current administration of President Gustavo Petro.
The decision came one day after Petro refused to acknowledge de la Espriella’s victory in the June 21 runoff election, claiming the vote was fraudulent — a charge he made without presenting any supporting evidence.
De la Espriella, a conservative businessman and lawyer who received an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump, posted on X that the transition would be stopped “immediately” with what he described as the “corrupt” outgoing government, which has less than a month left in power. He further accused Petro’s administration of attempting to “destroy Colombia” through its “decisions and conduct.”
In Colombia, the transition period — known locally as “empalme” — is a structured process in which the departing administration shares the information a president-elect needs to prepare for taking office. However, the handover between the politically opposed Petro and de la Espriella has been defined by back-and-forth accusations from the start.
Colombia’s finance minister, Germán Ávila, who also serves as the Petro administration’s transition coordinator, responded by directing his own team to pause their participation in the handover. Speaking in a televised address, Ávila pushed back against comments made by members of de la Espriella’s transition team, stating: “The transition process is not a criminal investigation; it is not a trial. We have absolutely nothing to hide.”
De la Espriella indicated he would soon address the public to elaborate on his decision and outline what actions he intends to take in the near future.
The president-elect’s background is in business and law, with interests that span a clothing line, wine and rum brands, and a restaurant. He secured Trump’s endorsement despite having no prior experience as an elected official. In the June 21 runoff, he defeated progressive lawmaker Iván Cepeda by a margin of just one percentage point — a difference of more than 251,000 votes.
The outcome was widely seen as a rejection of Petro’s governing approach, which Cepeda had pledged to carry forward, including a largely unsuccessful initiative to open peace negotiations with various armed groups operating in the country.
Following the runoff, a European Union election observer mission commended the vote-counting process for its transparency and efficiency. The Carter Center separately concluded that the results management system was “reliable, transparent and fully traceable.”
