Abelardo De la Espriella is a Colombian-Italian criminal lawyer and a far-right candidate for the 2026 presidential election.

De la Espriella grew up in Monteria, the Cordoba department in northern Colombia.

The lawyer founded his law firm, De La Espriella Lawyers, in 2002, with offices in Colombia and the United States.

De la Espriella is an admirer of other far-right leaders from the Americas, like Argentina’s Javier Milei, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, and the United States’ Donald Trump.

The lawyer’s policy proposals favor shrinking the government, lowering taxes, sacking work and business regulations, and firm military action. The typical neo-liberal talking points.

De la Espriella focused his campaign on a mainly aggressive and disruptive social media presence.

The Wikipedia page on the lawyer was removed in late August of 2025.

The candidate created a Wikipedia-like page on his campaign website, which omitted multiple scandals that involved De la Espriella and his law firm.

A key part of his campaign is the typical conservative rhetoric, focused on words such as “family values,” “God,” “honor,” and the rejection of feminism and the “left.”

The once openly atheist lawyer reinvented himself as a devout Christian weeks before he launched his campaign.

As of now, De la Espriella runs a social media-based campaign with the support of powerful clans in Colombia, and has expressed interest in taking part in a multipartite primary with conservative and far-right candidates.

Alleged ties to AUC

De la Espriella was an advisor to the AUC paramilitary group during peace negotiations with the government of former president Alvaro Uribe between 2002 and 2005.

According to Noticias Uno, a foundation created by De la Espriella, FIPAZ, received more than 1.3 billion pesos from the AUC.

Several paramilitary leaders stated that the organization “aligned with the paramilitary cause.”

The Prosecutor General’s Office dropped investigations into De la Espriella’s alleged ties to the AUC in 2009 and allegations that he tried to rip off the paramilitaries in 2017.

Uribe slapp suits

The presidential candidate is a close associate of former president Alvaro Uribe, one of the main promoters of paramilitary groups in the 1990s.

On Uribe’s behalf, De la Espriella tried and failed to take down a popular online series, “Matarife,” which exposed Uribe’s ties to the Medellin Cartel and alleged ties to the AUC.

This lawsuit was part of a campaign that sought to intimidate journalists reporting on Uribe’s controversial past.

According to press freedom foundation FLIP, De la Espriella “abuses legal tools to intimidate and silence voices who reveal or question any issue that concerns him,” in often futile attempts to protect his clients’ self-proclaimed “good name and honor.”

Other clients

De la Espriella defended controversial businessman Alex Saab,??who spent a while in US jails for allegedly laundering money for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

According to Univision, a police officer was convicted of bribery after admitting he received an iPhone from De La Espriella Lawyers in exchange for leaking information on investigations into Saab’s alleged criminal activity.

Another case that the presidential candidate left out on his bootleg Wikipedia was his defense of DMG Holding S.A. founder David Murcia Guzman.

Guzman was the brains behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in Colombia’s history and was sentenced to 30 years and 8 months in prison for money laundering and illegally receiving money.

De la Espriella spent most of his career defending celebrities.