Attorney Abelardo de la Espriella—the same man who built his personal brand by posing as Álvaro Uribe’s “loyal squire”—now seems to have decided that gratitude doesn’t translate into poll numbers. His new strategy, quietly financed, has a clear name: political parricide.

The marketing of division
It is astonishing that a campaign that calls itself a “Defender of the Nation” is devoting its greatest efforts—and checkbooks—to paying influencers to tear apart the only force currently containing the advance of Petrismo. The accusation is direct: De la Espriella, under the strategic direction of Carlos Suárez and with the backing of Enrique Gómez, has built a smear machine against Uribismo.

What does Abelardo intend with this systematic attack? The answer is as ambitious as it is dangerous. He aims to force a generational shift through slander, believing that by destroying the Uribismo tree, he will inherit its fruits. But in politics, those who destroy their neighbor’s house rarely build their own; they only leave the entire neighborhood at the mercy of criminals.

An invaluable favor to Petrismo
As the country sinks into economic uncertainty and insecurity, Abelardo de la Espriella chooses to spend his ammunition on “friendly fire.” Attacking Paloma Valencia or questioning Álvaro Uribe’s authority is not an act of rebellion or independence—it is an invaluable favor to the Casa de Nariño.

Petro doesn’t need strategists as long as he has Abelardo dividing the opposition. Every video, every tweet, and every smear campaign financed by his circle is another nail in the coffin of democratic unity. It is a textbook betrayal: he approaches Centro Democrático seeking endorsements, proposes the former president as his vice president, and when he fails to bend the party to his will, he activates his digital mercenaries to blow it up from within.

Leader or Persona?
Colombia does not need a president who behaves like a social media showman, obsessed with his own image and willing to trample former mentors just to shine a little brighter. The country needs seriousness, and what we are seeing in De la Espriella’s campaign is pure destructive frivolity.

It is time to strip the mask from this strategy. One cannot be Uribe’s “friend” in front of the cameras and his executioner in the shadows of digital troll farms. If Abelardo wants to lead the right, he should do so by building proposals, not destroying people.

For now, all he is showing is that his ego is bigger than his commitment to Colombia—and that he is willing to hand the country over to Petro’s heir just to be king of the ashes. The right does not need Trojan horses in designer suits; it needs loyalty and unity to save the Republic.