The China Mail - Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella sworn in as Colombia president

The flamboyant former lawyer brings a lurch to the right for the Andean nation, vowing to bomb jungle cocaine labs, build "mega-prisons" and slash the size of the state.

De la Espriella and his Vice President Jose Manuel Restrepo cheered, embraced and performed their campaign's characteristic military salute after taking their respective oaths.

After four years of diplomatic spats with the United States, President Donald Trump now has a keen ally in Bogota.

The 48-year-old president, who holds dual US and Colombian citizenship, has offered to launch joint military operations and even host US troops on Colombian soil.

In a break with tradition, his inauguration took place in the tropical southwestern city of Cali, Colombia's salsa capital, not at Congress in more buttoned-down Bogota.

Among the guests was a smiling Gianni Infantino, the beleaguered FIFA president who faces scathing criticism over his now-shelved plan to open the World Cup and other competitions up to private investment.

Powerful right-wing figures also attended, including Argentina's President Javier Milei and Todd Blanche, Trump's acting attorney general, who headed the US delegation.

De la Espriella's leftist predecessor Gustavo Petro declined to attend the ceremony.

He earlier left the presidential residence in the capital, bidding "farewell, freedom and life."

- 'New era' -

Cali has been the scene of several guerrilla pipe bomb attacks in the last few years, and the city saw beefed-up security for the occasion including 11,000 troops and an anti-drone system.

De la Espriella's narrow victory of less than one percentage point ended four years of Colombia's first-ever leftist government.

"We are beginning a new era!" he declared in his victory speech in June, after beating leftist rival Ivan Cepeda.

He is now faced with a divided Congress, where he lacks a majority.

Supporters hope De la Espriella will bring an iron fist when tackling crime and dissident armed groups after years of spluttering peace talks.

"This government has a lot to prove. A lot was said during the campaign," 46-year-old Marisol Peira told AFP in Cali.

- Rightward lurch -

Petro tried and failed to negotiate peace with the country's myriad armed groups.

Experts say the gangs -- once ideological but now focused on making money from cocaine trafficking and other illicit trades -- used government truces as cover to grow.

Petro is not going quietly. He called for mass protests in major cities on Friday, claiming election fraud without providing evidence.

De la Espriella's victory is yet another notch in the belt for Latin American right-wingers after electoral wins from Chile to Costa Rica on the back of security promises.

- Plan Colombia -

Calling himself "The Tiger," De la Espriella plans to forge a military alliance with the United States and Israel to aid his war on guerrillas.

His so-called "Plan Colombia II" is named in a nod to a multimillion-dollar agreement with Washington in the 2000s aimed at combating drug cartels and leftist groups.

"We have to support him so there won't be so much crime," said German Angulo, a 63-year-old contractor. "We need a complete change."

Although the original "Plan Colombia" succeeded in weakening key combat groups, it also led to allegations of serious human rights abuses.

L.Kwan--ThChM