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As Colombians prepare to head to the polls this Sunday to elect their next head of state, three candidates from wildly different political backgrounds have emerged as the clear frontrunners, each offering a sharply contrasting vision for the country’s future. At the top of pre-election polling is Ivan Cepeda, a veteran leftist senator, human rights advocate and close ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first ever left-wing head of state. Trailing closely behind him are right-wing political newcomer Abelardo “The Tiger” de la Espriella and conservative opposition senator Paloma Valencia, a protégé of hardline former president Alvaro Uribe.

Cepeda’s political journey has been defined by tragedy and resilience, shaped by decades of conflict in Colombia. He first stepped into the national spotlight in 1994, when at just 32 years old, he stood beside the bullet-riddled corpse of his father, a communist senator assassinated by far-right paramilitaries during a wave of political violence that killed more than 5,700 leftist leaders across the country. Speaking to reporters on that day, he demanded accountability, saying “Let this crime not go unpunished” — a moment broadcast live to millions of Colombians.

Now 63, Cepeda spent years in exile across Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba and France before returning to his home country to advocate for victims of the decades-long internal armed conflict. He played a pivotal role in crafting the 2016 historic peace accord that brought about the full disarmament of the FARC, Colombia’s once-largest rebel guerrilla group, and later was the architect of Petro’s controversial “total peace” initiative, an effort to end all remaining insurgent and criminal violence that ultimately failed to meet its core goals.

A defining moment in his political rivalry with the right came when Cepeda led the investigation into Uribe’s alleged paramilitary ties, a case that led to Uribe becoming the first former Colombian president to be convicted of a criminal offense in 2024. Though the conviction was later overturned by a judge, the confrontation cemented Cepeda’s status as the left’s most prominent icon and Uribe’s greatest political foe. Known for rejecting neckties — which he calls a symbol of oligarchy — and often wearing a traditional Caribbean collared shirt, Cepeda has brushed off decades of attacks from opponents, noting during this campaign: “I have survived genocide, stigmatization and relentless persecution. And here I am, still standing.” His critics still attack him over his past, however, repeating accusations of hidden ties to the FARC and blaming him for the failures of Petro’s total peace plan.

In second place in the polls is 47-year-old de la Espriella, a millionaire lawyer and businessman who has branded himself “The Tiger” and is making his first run for public office after years living a lavish lifestyle abroad. A self-identified right-wing outsider, de la Espriella left Colombia to live in Florence, Italy, where he enjoyed opera, traveled via private jet and built his businesses in rum and wine. He returned to run for president, he says, to stop the left from “destroying” Colombia, and counts among his political idols former U.S. President Donald Trump, Argentina’s libertarian leader Javier Milei and El Salvador’s hardline president Nayib Bukele.

Over his decades-long legal career, de la Espriella has defended a wide range of high-profile Colombian figures, from top soccer stars to notorious drug traffickers. Now campaigning, he often wears a tailored suit and has recently taken to wearing a bulletproof vest to public events, a nod to his tough-on-crime platform. As the candidate of the hardline law-and-order movement, de la Espriella has proposed sweeping measures to tackle Colombia’s status as the world’s largest cocaine producer: he wants to create a military alliance with the United States and Israel to crack down on drug cartels, build a network of large mega-prisons, and expand legal access to firearms for civilians. “Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down as the law allows,” he told AFP in a February interview.

The candidate has drawn widespread controversy for his inflammatory rhetoric: he once called for the Colombian left to be “gutted” before later softening his language, has made remarks widely condemned as homophobic and sexist, and often uses aggressive, vulgar language in campaign events. His hot temper and unapologetic style have become defining parts of his political brand, attracting a base of angry, anti-establishment right-wing voters.

Third in pre-election surveys is 50-year-old Paloma Valencia, a conservative senator from one of Colombia’s most politically powerful elite families. She is the granddaughter of Guillermo León Valencia, who served as Colombia’s president from 1962 to 1966, a conservative leader who took a hard line against early guerrilla groups and aligned Colombia closely with U.S. anti-communist policy in Latin America. If elected, she would become Colombia’s first female president.

Valencia has long positioned herself as one of the most vocal critics of the Colombian left and guerrilla groups, and considers former president Uribe her political “father” and mentor, campaigning side-by-side with him across the country. Like Uribe, she opposed the 2016 FARC peace accord and supports the hardline militarized security strategy that defined his presidency. In a March campaign speech, she laid out her core policy contrast to Petro’s agenda: “We are going to put an end to ‘total peace’ in order to impose total security.”

On social issues, Valencia holds staunch conservative positions on LGBTQ rights, and she supports expanding fracking — a controversial method of oil and gas extraction widely criticized for its severe environmental harms. As the most established right-wing candidate in the race, she draws support from traditional conservative voters who align with Uribe’s long-standing political movement.

With just days to go before voting begins, polls show a tight three-way race that remains too close to call, leaving Colombians poised to choose between continuing the country’s left-wing shift or turning back to a hardline conservative security agenda.

Eighty-year-old Brazilian incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has embarked on a course of preventive radiotherapy starting this Monday, following the surgical removal of a cancerous skin lesion from his scalp last month, according to an official statement released by Sao Paulo’s Sirio-Libanes Hospital. The treatment comes as the veteran leftist politician campaigns for a fourth presidential term in Brazil’s upcoming October general election, a race that has already put health and age-related questions at the center of public discourse.

Last month, dermatologist Cristina Abdalla removed a visible basal cell carcinoma from Lula’s scalp. Abdalla previously noted that this type of skin growth is extremely common and primarily triggered by long-term sun exposure, easing initial public concern over the diagnosis. After the successful surgical excision of the lesion, medical teams made the collective decision to administer complementary preventive superficial radiotherapy to reduce the risk of recurrence, the hospital confirmed in its latest announcement.

In the weeks since the lesion removal, Lula has been spotted wearing a head covering during all public appearances, a habit he previously adopted after a 2024 emergency surgery to address a brain hemorrhage sustained in a domestic accident. This is not the only minor health procedure Lula has undergone this year: he also underwent cataract surgery on his left eye back in January, adding to a string of publicized health events that have drawn scrutiny amid the election cycle.

To pre-empt growing public anxiety over his fitness for office at 80, Lula and his campaign team have ramped up social media outreach over the past several months. The president has repeatedly shared content showcasing his daily exercise routines, framing an image of vitality to counter questions about whether his age will hinder his ability to serve another four-year term. On the campaign trail, Lula’s most likely leading challenger is Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has built a leading position in pre-election polling to secure the main opposition’s nomination.

Colombians will cast their ballots this Sunday in one of the most divisive presidential elections in the country’s recent history, a contest that has been overshadowed by a dramatic spike in organized violence and forces voters to choose between extending four years of historic leftist governance or turning the country sharply to the right.

Outgoing President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first ever leftist head of state, is barred from seeking consecutive re-election, bringing a turbulent close to a term defined by rising insurgent violence, high-profile attacks including car bombings and drone strikes, and the assassination of a sitting presidential candidate. Still, Petro’s administration delivered tangible economic gains for working and low-income Colombians: the national unemployment rate has fallen steadily, driven in part by expanded public sector hiring, and the national minimum wage has been raised significantly.

That legacy has put Petro’s hand-picked successor, 63-year-old leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, in the position of poll front-runner heading into election day. The son of a prominent senator murdered by paramilitary groups, Cepeda has campaigned on a promise to expand Petro’s flagship social welfare programs and continue the administration’s signature “total peace” policy of open negotiations with active armed groups, even though the talks have produced few tangible demobilization results to date. For many of Cepeda’s supporters, the Petro administration’s policies have delivered life-changing support. “I give him my vote because my life changed under this government,” explained 23-year-old Bogota design student Natalia Rojas, who benefited from the government’s subsidized higher education program. To avoid a June 21 runoff, Cepeda must win an outright majority of the popular vote, a result most pollsters see as unlikely.

Most forecasts currently predict Cepeda will advance to a second-round faceoff against 47-year-old right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, a wealthy lawyer nicknamed “the Tiger” who has never held elected office and run a deeply unorthodox campaign. Known for campaigning in a bulletproof vest, de la Espriella has built his platform on a hardline security agenda that echoes the crackdown implemented by popular Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele – a comparison the candidate has leaned into openly, from his pledge to build large Bukele-style mega-prisons to his similar facial hair style. If elected, de la Espriella has announced he will request direct military backing from the United States to launch a 90-day campaign of airstrikes and aerial crop fumigation targeting cocaine-trafficking armed groups. “What De la Espriella wants is to put the house in order,” said Wilmer Bolivar, a 47-year-old former Colombian soldier and supporter of the right-wing candidate. De la Espriella is locked in a tight battle for second place, however, against centrist opposition Senator Paloma Valencia, who is backed by influential former president and conservative power broker Alvaro Uribe.

The election has laid bare deep ideological and class divides that have defined Petro’s polarizing tenure. While poorer Colombians have rallied around the government’s expanded social investment and pro-labor policies, the country remains one of the most economically unequal in the Western Hemisphere. Political scientist Alvaro Forero framed the contest as fundamentally rooted in this class divide, telling Agence France-Presse that “this election is marked by class struggle, and that is Petro’s main electoral ammunition.”

Critics, meanwhile, argue Petro’s governance has been erratic, and that his total peace negotiation strategy allowed armed criminal and insurgent groups that survived the 2016 FARC peace accord to rebuild and expand their territory. Independent experts confirm many groups used the cover of peace talks to strengthen their smuggling and drug trafficking networks, contributing to the wave of violence that has swept the country. Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine, and the vast majority of current violence is tied to battles over drug trafficking routes between competing armed factions. Human Rights Watch’s Juanita Goebertus called 2025 “a very bad year” for security in the country, noting that kidnappings have more than doubled and internal displacement from violence has hit its highest level in nearly 20 years.

Every major candidate has faced credible assassination threats throughout the campaign, a reminder of the country’s unstable security environment. The 2024 killing of right-wing candidate Miguel Uribe left many voters anxious about a return to the widespread political violence that marked Colombia’s late 20th century. Rising drug trafficking activity has also badly strained relations between the Petro administration and U.S. President Donald Trump, with the dispute escalating into public mutual insults that nearly upended decades of bilateral security cooperation.

Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, the next president will inherit a raft of pressing national challenges. Beyond the intractable security crisis, Colombia is facing a ballooning fiscal deficit that has reached 7% of national GDP, driven by lagging tax collection that has not kept pace with Petro’s ambitious social spending programs that were launched to offset a weak post-pandemic economic recovery. As Forero put it, the core question of the election is clear: “What’s at stake is continuing Petro’s change agenda or rejecting it.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has introduced a critical new condition for any finalized peace deal to end the ongoing war with Iran: widespread participation in the Abraham Accords, the 2020 U.S.-brokered agreements normalizing diplomatic ties between Israel and a number of historically hostile regional nations. In a lengthy post shared to his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump outlined that broad, simultaneous sign-on to the accords should be a mandatory requirement for any Iran peace agreement, following a Saturday conference call with leaders from multiple regional and Muslim-majority nations.

Trump named the nations discussed on the call as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (a 2020 signatory), Qatar, Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain (another original 2020 signatory). He acknowledged that one or two nations could have valid reasons to opt out, but argued that broad participation would elevate any Iran deal to a far more historic milestone for regional stability. Calling for immediate action, Trump said Saudi Arabia and Qatar should lead the signing process, warning that nations that refuse to join would demonstrate bad faith and be excluded from the deal entirely.

In a surprising extension of his demand, Trump even suggested that Iran itself could join the accords if it finalizes an agreement with his administration, writing that it would be an honor to welcome Iran into what he called an unparalleled global coalition. The Abraham Accords, first negotiated during Trump’s first presidential term, have long been billed by his administration as one of its most consequential foreign policy achievements, breaking decades of regional precedent by establishing formal relations between Israel and several Arab states. While diplomats have praised the accords as a foundational step toward broader Middle East peace, they have faced widespread public backlash across much of the region, largely because they do not address the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saudi Arabia, the most prominent regional power yet to join the accords, signaled as early as November 2025 that it was open to membership only if a clear path toward a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians is guaranteed.

Over the recent U.S. holiday weekend, Trump and his top diplomat Marco Rubio offered conflicting timelines for an Iran deal, at various points suggesting a final agreement was imminent. In his Monday post, however, Trump struck a more measured but optimistic tone, writing that negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran were proceeding nicely. While Trump has framed the deal as either being a robust, meaningful agreement or no agreement at all, Iranian officials struck a more cautious note on Monday, confirming that some progress had been made but adding that a final agreement was not yet close at hand. Following up on the ongoing diplomatic process, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Qatar on Monday for further talks, according to Iranian state media.