By Salomón Kalmanovitz, EL ESPECTADOR, June 22, 2026
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
Gustavo Petro’s radical politics, more vociferous than their execution, have generated their antithesis! And how! In the next four years, we’re going to be overwhelmed by the local version of Nayib Bukele of El Salvador. Just like the Salvadoran President, Abelardo De la Espriella promises to build maximum security prisons to house the hundreds of thousands of criminals that are walking free around here.
The De la Espriella program, in its principal aspects, tells us that 1. They’re going to turn the election into a historic decision for the defense of the nation. 2. They’re going to raise a moral and political majority to halt the capture of the State and reconstruct the Republic. 3. Going to carry out an immediate cleansing of the heads and governing bodies of public institutions to eradicate any strain of drug trafficking, corruption, and poor management. 4. And focus our contemplation on those who have NEVER been seen by the government, and give them priority. The motto with which he presents his program is “Together we will build a Miracle Country like none seen ever before.”
Out of a country threatened by the criminals that have taken it over and defrauded the government will surge the miracle of a new country. It repeats the formula of Donald Trump’s self-magnificence in doing something that has never been done before. He now projects himself as the pristine defender of elegance and good management, although he has no experience in private administration, let alone public administration.
Note that Abelardo uses military language. That’s why he talks about national Defense, not defense of a country that’s for everybody, but rather defense of a country that’s threatened. The State has been captured by the gangs, the Republic destroyed, requiring a clean-up of the entire government bureaucracy, infiltrated by drug trafficking and corruption. The working positions thus liberated will be occupied by “those that never” have had the opportunity to enjoy the perks of government work. At the same time, he promises that he would discharge 40% of the public bureaucracy, dismantle the State, reducing it by one fourth, and return the taxes paid by the richest families and businesses in the country.
His central argument: “Democracy will only be possible if the Constitution returns to being a limit to power and to being the central consensus of the Republic, if we obey the liberty and order that orients our own national coat of arms.” The drafting is inexact and reflects confusion. It’s incongruous to obey “liberty and order”, maybe order, yes, but not liberty. Maybe it should be obey the laws that protect our liberty.
Another key proposal: “Fighting against poverty is our primary objective; therefore, we’re going to kill hunger with the Solidarity Harvest Plan.” Hunger will be satiated by sufficient income for the entire population, although there are also some good harvests that require irrigation in order to produce all year long, and adequate financing for the investments that will have to be made by businesses and by the campesinos.
Finally, “consolidate a program of ‘fiscal adjustment’ to reduce the size of the government by one fourth. Achieving a financial surplus in the short term first (which assumes an initial adjustment of some 70 billón dollars, USD 70 trillion).” That adjustment would be equivalent to 13% of the national budget for 2026, which would include reduced spending on health and education, leaving unprotected the populations that need them so much.