Colombian Candidates Advance to June 21 Presidential Runoff

Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda advanced to Colombia's presidential runoff after Sunday's first-round vote left neither candidate with a majority. De la Espriella, a lawyer who has never held elected office, captured nearly 44 percent of the vote.

Cepeda, a senator aligned with the outgoing administration, received just under 41 percent. Because no candidate reached the required 50 percent threshold, the two will compete again on June 21.

Cepeda is backed by incumbent leftist Colombian president Gustavo Petro. Security emerged as a top campaign issue for both candidates. De la Espriella has pledged closer cooperation with the U.S. and to crack down on organized crime. He has drawn comparisons to other regional figures who favor hard-line security policies.

The contest follows repeated public disagreements between Petro and the U.S. administration over a strike campaign on alleged drug boats that Colombian media say has killed more than 200 people. The Trump administration has painted the Western Hemisphere, including Latin America, as within Washington's zone of influence and has flexed its military muscles south of the U.S. border.

In January, U.S. forces swept into Venezuela to seize then-leader Nicolás Maduro from his Caracas compound and brought him to the U.S. to face narco-trafficking charges. The U.S. has carried out nearly nine months of lethal strikes on suspected drug vessels in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

The White House has beefed up its military presence around Cuba, maintaining an oil blockade on the island to pressure its communist leadership while carrying out joint anti-drug trafficking operations in Ecuador. The Trump administration also formed what it dubbed its "Shield of the Americas" initiative, a coalition of more than a dozen leaders on the center-right or hard-right subscribing to Trump-esque politics.