Colombia entered a new political chapter as conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn into office Friday, pledging to reverse much of former President Gustavo Petro’s left-wing agenda and restore a tougher approach to security, economic policy and relations with the United States.

Known by his nickname “El Tigre” (the tiger), his inauguration marks one of the most significant political shifts in Latin America in recent years. After four years of socialist President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” strategy, expanding coca cultivation and increasingly strained relations with Washington, de la Espriella now faces the challenge of translating campaign promises into governing reality.

He was joined at the inauguration by several conservative presidents from across the region, including Argentina’s Javier Milei, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa and Chile’s José Antonio Kast. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche was there as part of the U.S. delegation. Spain’s King Felipe VI and FIFA President Gianni Infantino were also in attendance, The Associated Press reported.

TRUMP SAYS COLOMBIA’S ‘EL TIGRE’ WILL BE A ‘GREAT PRESIDENT’ AS SOCIALIST OPPONENT LAUNCHES LEGAL CHALLENGE

“I have come to close a long chapter of national resignation and, together with the people, embark on the most profound transformation of our destiny,” De La Espriella said, according to Reuters while speaking at the Pichincha Battalion military base in Cali. 

“I send a firm message to the Colombian people: The time has come to restore order, authority, and freedom.”

Reuters said one of his first acts as president was to join The Shield of the Americas, founded by President Donald Trump.

For the U.S., Colombia remains its closest security partner in South America, a key trading ally and one of the region’s largest recipients of U.S. security assistance. Hundreds of American companies operate in Colombia, while the country’s security conditions directly affect regional migration, organized crime and narcotics trafficking.

On foreign policy, the new president has committed to rebuilding strategic ties with the United States, restoring close cooperation with Israel and adopting a tougher stance toward the authoritarian governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Whether those commitments produce measurable improvements, however, will depend on resources that remain in short supply. Camilo Guzmán, executive director of Libertank, told Fox News Digital that the country’s financial situation will define what the administration can realistically accomplish.

“President de la Espriella inherits a house with the roof leaking and the safe empty. The order matters because almost everything he promised requires money he does not have.” Guzmán pointed to Colombia’s deteriorating fiscal position as the administration’s most immediate challenge.

“Start with the fiscal picture. It is worse than his own team seems to expect. The 2026 deficit is tracking around 6.5-6.7% of GDP, the financing gap is close to $34 billion and the implicit medium-term adjustment being left on his desk is near five points of GDP. It is also a cash problem, not only an accounting one. Before he governs, he must make payroll.”

WALTZ WARNS OF CHINESE, RUSSIAN-FUELED ‘NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT’ LOOMING CLOSE TO US SHORES

The International Monetary Fund projects Colombia’s economy will grow by only about 2.3% this year while inflation remains elevated, limiting the government’s room to finance new security initiatives or major economic reforms without additional spending cuts or new revenue measures.

Security presents an equally daunting challenge. Violence has intensified across several regions as criminal organizations and guerrilla groups have expanded their territorial influence over the past several years.

Guzmán said, “Security is the second fire. The first half of 2026 closed with the highest homicide count for any first semester in a decade, extortion still rising and armed groups that have grown sharply since 2022. Security is rebuilt in years, not in quarters. Expect operations, captures and hard rhetoric in the first 100 days, visible and real, but not yet structural.”

Even if the administration moves quickly on executive actions, its legislative agenda will depend on building consensus in a fragmented Congress. Although De la Espriella won the presidency, his party controls only five seats in the Senate, while Petro’s Historic Pact remains the largest individual political bloc. Passing security reforms, fiscal legislation and broader economic initiatives will require negotiations with centrist and traditional parties on virtually every major proposal.

Guzmán believes those political realities may prove just as important as the security challenges. “He won the election; he did not win Congress. The July fight over the Senate presidency was the first warning. He has a coalition that is numerically large and poorly disciplined. His agenda will be negotiated bill by bill.”

REPUBLICAN REP MARÍA ELVIRA SALAZAR DECLARES, ‘AFTER CUBA, NICARAGUA IS NEXT’

For that reason, analysts caution against measuring the administration’s success solely by immediate results. Instead, the first 100 days are likely to be judged by whether the new president establishes credibility, assembles an effective governing team and demonstrates that campaign promises can evolve into a coherent governing strategy.

Guzmán concluded, “The realistic expectation is this: the first 100 days will produce signals, not results. Appointments, decrees, an emergency spending cut, a tax bill, a security package. Meanwhile, expectations are enormous, and the distance between what people were promised and what is physically possible in 100 days is the main political risk he faces. He will spend those 100 days putting the house in order. He should say so out loud, and early. Credibility is the one asset he can build by day 100.”

The decisions investors and policymakers will watch most closely include whether De la Espriella formally abandons Petro’s negotiations with the ELN, resumes aerial coca fumigation, expands intelligence and security cooperation with Washington, restores full diplomatic engagement with Israel and introduces a credible fiscal adjustment plan.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Those early moves, analysts say, will offer the clearest indication of whether Colombia’s new president can begin delivering on his promise to reverse the Petro era, or whether the country’s fiscal, political and security realities will force him to scale back one of the most ambitious conservative agendas in modern Colombian politics.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Belarus’ decision to classify Euronews as “extremist” is an act of revenge for its reporting on the country’s disputed 2020 election, political prisoners and Russia’s war against Ukraine, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

In an exclusive interview with Euronews, Tsikhanouskaya said the move showed that Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s government remained afraid of independent information six years after the mass protests that followed the presidential election.

“It is revenge – revenge by the regime for Euronews’ reporting,” she said.

“Euronews covered the 2020 protests, it covered the election, which Lukashenka lost. It covered the stories of political prisoners and the war, which started from Belarus.”

Belarusian information ministry placed Euronews’ website on its “Republican List of Extremist Materials,” according to Belarus-based media. The ruling is subject to immediate execution under Belarusian civil procedure rules.

The decision means access to the Euronews website will now be restricted in Belarus, while readers could face administrative penalties for storing or distributing its content.

Euronews’ television broadcast was already banned in Belarus in 2021.

Tsikhanouskaya noted called the decisions “hypocritical” given that Lukashenka himself gave an interview to Euronews before.

“Now even watching them can be considered a crime in Belarus”.

She warned that the designation could turn viewing and sharing independent news into a pretext for repression.

“Watching Euronews or reading the Euronews website can land you in jail. Sharing Euronews news can become a crime.”

The ruling gave the regime and its law enforcement agency KGB “another excuse to prosecute people who are simply looking for information”, Tsikhanouskaya said, adding that journalists, contributors and those assisting news organisations could also be at risk.

Her comments come ahead of the sixth anniversary of the August 2020 election, which was followed by an unprecedented wave of peaceful demonstrations against Lukashenka’s declared victory.

The opposition, the EU and many western governments rejected the result as fraudulent.

The authorities responded with a sweeping crackdown on protesters, activists, independent media and civil society.

Tsikhanouskaya said repression had become the operating principle of the state because the government feared that a relaxation could trigger another public uprising.

“If it stops, people will rise up again,” she said. “Constant, systemic repression has become the modus operandi of the entire system.”

She added that arrests continued daily and that the true scale of the crackdown remained unclear because many detainees were not publicly identified.

“Under such terror, visible protest is almost impossible. It has gone underground,” she said. “But I know that people haven’t given up. They are waiting and preparing for new momentum.”

The opposition leader, who lives in exile, argued that control of information was central to the government’s survival. Millions of Belarusians still follow independent outlets covertly, she said, using virtual private networks and other tools to bypass censorship.

“Independent media are the backbone of our movement,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

She stated that independent reporting had helped ensure that many Belarusians understood the reality of Russia’s war in Ukraine, despite official propaganda, and that most supported Ukraine.

But she warned that the state was adapting as quickly as citizens. “The KGB often uses tech platforms to track, identify, and prosecute opponents,” she said, adding that her team was working with companies including Meta and Alphabet to ensure their platforms were not used to facilitate persecution.

Tsikhanouskaya advised people in Belarus to make digital security a priority, including by using VPNs, keeping separate devices for accessing independent media and avoiding contact with unknown accounts that could be linked to security services.

She said Belarusians were also advised to regularly clear their phones, use pseudonyms online and avoid responding to unknown contacts, which could be attempts by the KGB to recruit or blackmail them. Some independent outlets use accounts that are not branded as “extremist”, she said, allowing audiences to continue accessing information under difficult conditions.

“Difficult conditions force us to be creative,” she said. “That is the only way to survive under a dictatorship.”

She said the “extremist” designation should not deter Euronews from continuing its work.

“Euronews can take this designation as a badge of honour,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

“Many decent people and organisations have been declared ‘extremist’ by the dictator. It means your work matters.”

Despite the crackdown, she urged Belarusians not to see the democratic movement as defeated.

“Our struggle has not ended. It has simply taken a different form,” she said. “It is no longer a sprint, but a marathon.”

Tsikhanouskaya said a strong Ukraine and a weakened Russia could create an opening for democratic change in Belarus, arguing that Lukashenka’s government depended on the Kremlin’s support.

“Without Russian support, Lukashenka’s regime will not survive,” she said. “That is why so many Belarusians hope for Ukraine’s victory.”

Tsikhanouskaya urged western partners to see Belarus “not only as a problem, but also as an opportunity”, arguing that democratic forces must be ready to seize any opening created by a shift in the regional balance of power.

“Dictatorships often collapse when no one expects it,” she said.

Belarusians wanted peaceful change through free elections, without violence, and a future in Europe rather than under Russian control, she said.

“A free, democratic and independent Belarus would make Europe much safer for everyone.”

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins and star pass rusher Maxx Crosby got into a scuffle late in practice Friday before their teammates quickly jumped in and separated them.

Cousins, who is operating the first-team offense in training camp, remained on the field to finish the drive. Crosby, however, was sent to the sideline.

“Those are two leaders of our team going at it, so that is part of camp,” coach Klint Kubiak said. “Obviously, if you fight in a game and throw a punch in game, then you’re out of the game. So we’ve got to be smart and treat it like a game.”

Cousins appeared upset that Crosby tipped his pass, forcing an incompletion, and then charged the 6-foot-5, 256-pound defensive end who is three inches taller and 42 pounds heavier.

“We don’t want to be throwing punches, but I think on any padded day of camp, there’s going to be some tussles,” tight end Michael Mayer said. “That’s our starting quarterback right now, and you want him to defend your team and you want him to have some edge to him, which he does. He’s always had since the first day I met him when he came in here.

“I don’t want him getting thrown out. I don’t want him getting a flag. Nothing like that, but you’ve got to be able to defend yourself.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL