Gustavo Petro and his family were included in the list of individuals allegedly associated with drug trafficking by the US Anadolu via Getty Images/BBC The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced that he will bring forward his farewell speech to July 20th, the date on which the country's independence is celebrated. The statement will take place in Colombian public squares just over a month before the official end of his mandate, on August 7th. Petro's announcement ignores the traditional rites of August — a period that the president classified as a "tragic date" — and transfers the political debate to the streets on the national independence holiday, at a time when the ultra-right opposition consolidates its victory at the polls, despite questions from the current president. ? Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp Petro's position to call for a "general mobilization" and organize "resistance" in the streets occurs in parallel with the completion of the official count of the second round of the presidential elections, held on June 21st. In the first round, held in May, the ultra-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella led with 43.7% of the votes, followed by the government candidate Iván Cepeda, with 40.90%. Given the initial results of that stage, Petro had already stated that he did not accept the pre-count and criticized the software from the company Thomas Greg & Sons (TGS), pointing out an alleged divergence of 800 thousand people in the electoral census. Former president Iván Duque refuted the statements at the time, accusing the president of disrespecting democracy. Who is Abelardo de la Espriella, president-elect in a preliminary count in Colombia? The government candidate Iván Cepeda conceded victory to Abelardo de la Espriella in a press conference last Wednesday (24), three days after voting in the second round. Cepeda's decision reversed his initial stance and that of his party, the Historic Pact, which even mobilized lawyers to request the challenge of 33,000 electoral tables alleging technical errors. The challenge lost strength after the National Registrar of Colombia reported that the official ballot — the checking and recount process conducted by the National Electoral Council (CNE) — differed in just 0.003% of the ballots in relation to the preliminary count. The count confirmed the narrow victory of the right-wing candidate by a difference of around 250 thousand votes (less than one percentage point): Abelardo de la Espriella: 12,959,542 votes (49.6%) Iván Cepeda: 12,708,712 votes “I have decided to accept the result that emerges from this process and which indicates that Abelardo de la Espriella is the new president of the Republic”, declared Cepeda. The president-elect has already received congratulations from several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, who had expressed public support for his campaign. The scenario that awaits the new government Known by the nickname "El Tigre", Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, leads the ultra-conservative Defenders of the Fatherland movement. In line with hard-line speeches such as those of Trump and Salvadoran Nayib Bukele, the lawyer gained strength by exploring public security — cited by 40% of Colombians as the country's biggest problem, amid recent clashes between dissident FARC factions that left dozens dead in the Colombian Amazon. Espriella promises to suspend dialogue processes with armed groups, promote a military offensive with the construction of 10 mega-prisons and remove Colombia from international organizations such as the UN and the OAS. The new president, however, must face a scenario of strong legislative fragmentation. The March elections indicate that Congress will remain divided, with the Historic Pact of Petro and Cepeda maintaining the largest group, which will require constant negotiations for the approval of projects from August onwards.