Iván Duque

Colombia’s Runoff Put Security Back at the Center of Democracy

Former Colombian president Iván Duque, in a Hoover Institution conversation with H.R. McMaster, argues that Colombia’s June 2026 runoff was less a left-right contest than a referendum on whether security and constitutional limits remain the basis of democratic rule. Duque says Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” policy amounted to appeasement of armed groups, and that Abelardo de la Espriella’s victory creates an opening to restore rule of law, military pressure on cartels, and investor confidence. He extends the case regionally, urging the United States to treat Colombia and the wider Americas as a strategic democratic community.