Colombia Markets Closed for Boyacá; De La Espriella Takes Office

Colombian markets were closed on Friday for the Battle of Boyacá holiday as Abelardo De La Espriella took the presidential oath in Cali, naming Ecopetrol recovery his top priority.

Conservative Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as Colombia's president, promising to crack down on armed drug gangs.

The far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as president of Colombia Friday amid tight security at a ceremony at a university in Cali.

BOGOTA, Aug 7 - Right-wing lawyer Abelardo De La Espriella is set to be sworn in as Colombia's new president on Friday after pledging a hard line on security, drug trafficking and the economy.

An ally of Donald Trump, the new president, whose inauguration is scheduled for Friday, August 7, has pledged budget cuts, a 'moral reconstruction' grounded in Catholicism, and an 'iron fist' against guerrilla groups and drug trafficking.

An ally of Donald Trump, the new president, whose inauguration is scheduled for Friday, August 7, has pledged budget cuts, a 'moral reconstruction' grounded in Catholicism, and an 'iron fist' against guerrilla groups and drug trafficking.

Abelardo de la Espriella takes office as president of Colombia on Friday at a ceremony held at the Santiago de Cali University, outside Bogotá and without the attendance of his predecessor, Gustavo Petro, in a handover marked by confrontation between the two men.

Colombian President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella takes office August 8, vowing to launch a war on drug gangs and cosy up to the United States. The former lawyer won June's run-off election by less than a percentage point. He's a right-wing populist in the mould of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele and Argentina's Javier Mil

Latin America’s right-wing wave reaches Colombia on Friday, but the country’s new president is about to discover that governing a deeply divided nation is far harder than winning an election.