{"text":[[{"start":7.04,"text":"Abelardo de la Espriella, a multimillionaire former criminal defence lawyer who calls himself “El Tigre” (The Tiger), promised to crush organised crime groups as he was sworn in as president of Colombia on Friday."}],[{"start":20.52,"text":"“Members of criminal gangs and narco-terrorist groups have two choices: submit to the rule of law or face the full force of the Colombian state and its security forces,” de la Espriella said during his first speech as president."}],[{"start":35.04,"text":"“El Tigre has arrived and they will know how hard its bite is when it comes to defending the people of Colombia,” he said in his speech to troops at a military battalion in the south-western city of Cali."}],[{"start":44.66,"text":"De La Espriella, a political neophyte, in June won the narrowest run-off election in modern Colombian history, with a 0.9 per cent share separating him from senator Iván Cepeda, the continuity candidate of Colombia’s outgoing leftist president Gustavo Petro."}],[{"start":60.36,"text":"On the campaign trail, de la Espriella pledged that if elected he would build mega-jails in the Amazon rainforest to house suspected criminals, echoing a trademark policy of El Salvador’s populist strongman Nayib Bukele."}],[{"start":73.2,"text":"De la Espriella has promised to open up the country to fracking and reverse Petro’s moratorium on new hydrocarbon and mining contracts. He also said he would drastically reduce government spending, which ballooned under Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president."}],[{"start":86.68,"text":"“We have to put the house in order,” de la Espriella said, while pledging to maintain social programmes for vulnerable populations."}],[{"start":93.84,"text":"Petro, who alleged that Israeli and US software groups conspired to rig the vote against Cepeda, sought peace deals and surrender agreements with guerrilla groups and drug traffickers, even as cocaine production surged."}],[{"start":107,"text":"The country’s military has for decades been fighting cartels and guerrillas, with an estimated 450,000 lives lost between 1958 and 2016, according to the country’s truth commission."}],[{"start":118.28,"text":"The largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), demobilised in 2016, but several dissident factions have continued to wage war against the state while profiting from illicit economies including drug trafficking, illegal mining and racketeering."}],[{"start":134.6,"text":"“Dialogue has run its course,” de la Espriella said. “In the era of El Tigre, the response will be decisive and forceful.”"}],[{"start":142.92,"text":"On Friday, he said that he would authorise the use of herbicides to fumigate coca crops, which are used to make cocaine. Colombia suspended the aerial fumigation of coca with glyphosate in 2015, citing health and environmental concerns."}],[{"start":157.04,"text":"De la Espriella’s Cali inauguration broke with the traditional location of Bogotá, the capital. On election night in June, pro-Cepeda protesters had clashed with police in Cali. The city sits along big drug-trafficking and illegal-mining routes and was militarised ahead of Friday’s ceremony."}],[{"start":174.74,"text":"In the days ahead of the inauguration, Colombian authorities said that a planned bombing by a dissident faction of the Farc had been foiled."}],[{"start":182.64,"text":"De la Espriella’s office said that the decision to take office in Cali reflected his wish to “bring the state closer to the provinces”."}],[{"start":190.16,"text":"His ascent to the presidency consolidates a rightward shift in Latin America, following the electoral victories of conservatives in Chile, Peru and Honduras."}],[{"start":199.4,"text":"Relations between Bogotá and Washington became strained over the past four years, with the Trump administration levying sanctions against Petro and decertifying Colombia as a partner in the drug war."}],[{"start":211.04,"text":"De la Espriella holds US citizenship and on the campaign trail openly courted the support of the Trump administration."}],[{"start":218.322,"text":"The US delegation to de la Espriella’s inauguration was led by acting attorney-general Todd Blanche, who was expected to be confirmed to the position permanently in the coming days."}],[{"start":227.6,"text":"“We are excited for what we expect to be a great rekindling of a great partnership between the United States and Colombia,” Blanche told reporters in Cali on Thursday night."}],[{"start":237.96,"text":"Rightwing presidents from Latin America, including Javier Milei of Argentina, José Antonio Kast of Chile and Daniel Noboa of Ecuador, also attended, alongside Spain’s King Felipe VI and Fifa’s embattled chief Gianni Infantino. Petro did not attend."}],[{"start":258.24,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786329205_3350.mp3"}