Sawt Falasteen - Leftist icon, millionaire lawyer, conservative senator: Who will be Colombia's next leader?

Senator, philosopher and human rights defender Ivan Cepeda, an architect of Petro's failed "total peace" plan, is leading the polls to succeed Colombia's first-ever left-wing president.

In second place is the candidate who has dubbed himself "The Tiger": Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing outsider who has returned from a lavish lifestyle in Italy to run for office for the first time.

Third in the polls is Senator Paloma Valencia, who is campaigning alongside her mentor, the hardline right-wing former president Alvaro Uribe.

- Survivor -

Ivan Cepeda first appeared in public in 1994, in his early 30s, next to the corpse of his father, a communist senator who was assassinated by paramilitaries.

Standing in front of a bullet-riddled truck, his call for justice was televised.

"Let this crime not go unpunished," Cepeda told reporters in a measured tone, during a period of persecution that saw more than 5,700 leftist leaders killed.

The 63-year-old has previously lived in exile in former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Cuba and France.

Returning to Colombia, he advocated for armed conflict victims and played a key role in the historic 2016 peace accord, which led to the disarmament of the rebel army FARC -- formerly the country's largest armed group.

His adversaries accuse him of having ties to FARC and reproach him for having devised Petro's "total peace" plan.

"I have survived genocide, stigmatization and relentless persecution. And here I am, still standing," he said during the campaign.

Typically wearing a traditional Caribbean shirt, Cepeda forgoes a tie, which he considers a symbol of oligarchy.

The senator led the investigation into former president Uribe's ties with paramilitaries before it went to court, where Uribe became the first Colombian leader to be convicted of a crime last year.

Although a judge later overturned the ruling, the incident established Cepeda as the right-wing leader's main political enemy and an icon of the left.

- 'The Tiger' -

Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, is a millionaire lawyer and businessman who said he entered politics to prevent Colombia from being "destroyed" by the left.

He holds US President Donald Trump, Argentina's Javier Milei and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele in high esteem.

Sporting impeccable suits and, more recently, a bulletproof vest, his legal career saw him defend prominent Colombian figures including drug traffickers and soccer stars.

Before launching his presidential bid, De la Espriella lived in Florence, Italy, where he dabbled in opera, jetted around in private planes and promoted his rum and wine businesses.

To combat drug cartels in Colombia, the world's biggest cocaine producer, De la Espriella proposes a military alliance with the United States and Israel and the construction of mega-prisons, while also defending the right to carry weapons.

"Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down as the law allows," he told AFP in an interview in February.

Branding himself "The Tiger," the candidate has a penchant for swearing and is known for his hot temper.

He called for the Colombian left to be "gutted," but later toned down his language.

He has also made remarks considered homophobic and sexist and frequently refers to his "balls."

- Uribe's 'daughter' -

Paloma Valencia, 50, belongs to one of Colombia's most powerful families and is the granddaughter of Guillermo Leon Valencia, a conservative in office from 1962 to 1966.

Her grandfather confronted Colombia's first guerrilla groups and aligned the country with Washington to clamp down on communism on the continent.

Valencia is hoping to become Colombia's first woman president, and as a senator has gained a reputation as one of the most virulent critics of guerrilla groups and the left.

The philosopher, lawyer and reformist member of Colombia's main opposition party considers Uribe her "father."

Like him, she opposed the 2016 peace deal with FARC and favours Uribe-style militarization.

"We are going to put an end to 'total peace' in order to impose total security," she declared in a speech in March.

She takes a conservative stance on LGBTQ rights and is in favour of fracking, an environmentally destructive process of extracting natural gas and petroleum from subterranean bedrock.

R.Halabi--SF-PST