By Rodrigo Uprimny, EL ESPECTADOR, August 2, 2026
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
To be able to be President next August 7, Abelardo de la Espriella (ADLE) is required to declare solemnly, as ordered by Article 192 of the Constitution, to swear to God his promise “to the people to comply faithfully with the Constitution and laws of Colombia.” ADLE will then swear to loyally carry out the duties that belong to the Office of the President, among which are to direct international relations, and to be the Commander of the Armed Forces. In addition, Article 188 of the Constitution points out that the President “when swearing to carry out the Constitution and the laws, he is required to guarantee the rights and liberties of all Colombians”. In the same way, ADLE is obliged, because it is established in Articles 8 and 226 of the Constitution, to lead international relations while respecting the national sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples, not only ours, but also those of other nations and peoples. Besides that, he is to direct our international relations on “the bases of equity, reciprocity, and national convenience”, that is, placing the interests of Colombia above the interests of other nations.
This oath includes, for every new President, not just the acquisition of enormous powers, such as the use of the Armed Forces, but also the acceptance of serious responsibilities for the country and for Colombians. The problem is that, if ADLE does not renounce his United States nationality in advance, his oath on August 7 will be in contradiction with the other oath he swore a few months ago to acquire that nationality. In that oath, ADLE swore that he was renouncing “absolutely” and “abdicating all loyalty and fidelity” to Colombia (literally) and thus acquiring the commitment to support the United States, even taking up arms, to confront any actors that that nation might define as their enemies.
Let’s suppose that in the framework of the Shield of the Americas, to which ADLE has said Colombia would adhere, President Trump would order the use of military power to bombard in Colombian territorial waters launches with supposed drug traffickers, whom Trump has defined as enemies of his country (in spite of the fact, by the way, that he had no problem pardoning a convicted narco: the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández). In those circumstances, should United States citizen ADLE comply with an order originating with Trump, his President? Or must ADLE, the President of Colombia, place his duty to guarantee the rights of Colombians first, and refuse to carry out what is obviously an extrajudicial execution? So any way you look at it, ADLE is trapped between two loyalties and two oaths.
The two oaths are no small thing because, as Hannah Arendt pointed out, they are tied to one of the characteristics of the human condition which is the unpredictability of the future. The promises permit us islands of security that make communal life possible in a future that we can’t control completely. An oath, which is a promise reinforced into a solemn and public act is thus a means of strengthening social cooperation and the confrontation with uncertainty. In the case of the President, his oath is also the realization of the social pact; the citizens accept that the President will direct the Armed Forces, and in return, he will carry out his constitutional obligation to protect our rights. Thus, the oaths are not just legal technicalities: one who fails to carry them out loses all credibility, but the fact also carries legal, even criminal, implications.
If he really is a patriot, as he has said so many times that he is, ADLE must renounce his United States nationality before he is inaugurated. If he fails to do that, not only will his oath on August 7 be not very credible socially, it will even be legally questionable, which would introduce new uncertainties to a political situation already very tense.