‘He nearly treads on them with contempt’: Colombia’s president is under fire for a video of himself walking among 23 body bags

Colombia’s president, Abelardo De La Espriella, is facing backlash after posting a video showing him walking past rows of body bags. As reported by The Guardian, the footage, posted Thursday, claims to show the remains of 23 guerrillas killed during a military operation in the Colombian Amazon. The video reflects the hardline security approach he pledged when he took office last month.

De La Espriella, who supporters call El Tigre, wrote in the caption, “I promised to confront terrorism without hesitation and I’m keeping that promise.” He added that he would not negotiate with the armed groups he described as terrorists, extortionists and child recruiters, saying his administration intends to eliminate them entirely.

As detailed by Al Jazeera, De La Espriella was sworn in on August 7 in Cali, where he vowed a crackdown on armed groups and criticized the approach of his predecessor, Gustavo Petro. He has said dialogue with armed groups is no longer an option his administration will pursue.

Rivals accused him of turning the deaths into a spectacle

Iván Cepeda, the leftwing candidate De La Espriella defeated in June’s election, was among the first to respond. Posting on X, Cepeda said the president “nearly treads on them with contempt,” and questioned how someone who identifies as Christian could act that way toward the dead.

Lawmaker Daniel Monroy used the term “necropolitics” to describe the video, calling it “one of the most bizarre things we’ve seen.” Former president Gustavo Petro also weighed in, accusing De La Espriella of “turning death into a trophy” in a post on X.

De La Espriella has not backed down from the criticism. He responded, “Forgiving terrorists is God’s business. Sending them to meet him is the president’s job.” The exchange echoes a broader regional pattern that includes Trump’s Pacific drug boat strikes, which the Trump administration has also documented on social media.

Similar tactics have appeared elsewhere in the region as rightwing leaders lean on aggressive social media content to rally supporters. El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele has used slick videos of his mega-prisons for the same purpose, a strategy that has run alongside Trump’s Caribbean military buildup against alleged drug traffickers.

The style has also surfaced in Brazil ahead of its October elections. Candidate Renan Santos has promised to “stain the ground red” against drug traffickers, while Flávio Bolsonaro has vowed to remove criminals “either standing up or lying down.” In Rio, former police chief Felipe Curi has used AI-generated video of himself firing at armed men as part of his campaign.

De La Espriella self-financed his campaign as a political outsider, pledging to cut government spending by 40 percent and revive the oil and gas sector. His inauguration was attended by Spain’s King Felipe VI and Argentina’s Javier Milei. The U.S. State Department has since announced plans to provide $1 billion in security assistance to his administration.