Althouse: "The right-wing De la Espriella, who was inaugurated last week, pledged during his campaign to bring the 'wrath of God' against drug traffickers and other armed groups to 'end them like cockroaches, like rats.'"

August 14, 2026

"The right-wing De la Espriella, who was inaugurated last week, pledged during his campaign to bring the 'wrath of God' against drug traffickers and other armed groups to 'end them like cockroaches, like rats.'"

From "Colombia’s new president asks Trump to bring militarized antidrug campaign to the country/The South American nation is the world’s largest producer of cocaine" (WaPo).

22 comments:

Dave Begley said...: “Deeds and words make the perfect man.” Baltasar Gracian, SJ; 8/14/26, 5:02 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: All it takes is an invitation and we will help.; 8/14/26, 5:06 AM
rcommal said...: I do worry about stretching our attention and resources. In theory, we do want to stem the flow of drugs, of course. However, there's been in a lot of "in theory" in our multi-front war on drugs over the decades, and yet the problem seems to remain stubbornly intractable. I have no answers, and I do freely admit I do not have expertise in this area. Hopeful but skeptical is about all I can muster.; 8/14/26, 5:23 AM
Ampersand said...: Espriella has made an existential choice. Once you decide to take on the cartels, you cannot afford to lose. There can be no brokered peace. This will be ugly. The cartels will ally themselves with Chinese and Venezuelan and Mexican organized crime, who have political allies within their respective countries.Will the Colombian people have the necessary tenacity?; 8/14/26, 5:56 AM
gilbar said...: it IS weird,
how left wing governments have TAKEN OVER the Entire world!
from Italy and Poland, to Columbia and Argentina..
Wait! maybe i'm all turned around; 8/14/26, 6:16 AM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Using emojis at all makes people look out-of-date. Civilisations got rid of hieroglyphics in favour of alphabets 2500 years ago. Why bring them back?

And what might be the connection to such widely miserable reading and writing skills amongst our youth?; 8/14/26, 7:07 AM
n.n said...: So, left-wing regimes favor consumption and distribution of the 🤡 and ☠ 💊?; 8/14/26, 7:20 AM
mccullough said...: If he got elected, then he’s the centrist. In the U.S., right wing means supported by 75% of the U.S.; 8/14/26, 7:30 AM
Achilles said...: "Right-Wing" means not wanting Colombia to be a narco state.

Got it.

Everyone working at the WAPO needs to be shipped to China.; 8/14/26, 7:36 AM
Josephbleau said...: Soon the only narco state left will be Mexico.; 8/14/26, 7:38 AM
Enigma said...: The left maintained a fuzzy "big tent" approach to control for decades, but started to break its prior "progressive" rules following the 1960s. They tolerated, wallowed in, and protected objectively destructive forces and lifestyles. Then with TDS, they became predators reliant on predatory tactics and money and 'voters' to maintain control.

The end of every political movement is baked in at the start per the deals and compromises made early along.; 8/14/26, 7:50 AM
baghdadbob said...: And when their economy collapses, since it is now built on pillars of cocaine, he will be overthrown.; 8/14/26, 8:08 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Coca is basically a weed, and even adding production the markup is something like 1,000,000x. It's simple economics. As long as the richest people on Earth have a taste for booger sugar, people will risk their lives to sell it.; 8/14/26, 8:16 AM
FredSays said...: While I wish him and Columbia success in stemming the drug trade, he doesn’t have the financial resources, military strength or the longevity of resolve to defeat the combined strength of the cartels and their leftist supporters. ☹️; 8/14/26, 8:17 AM
Jersey Fled said...: In spite of what the Left wants you to believe, the homeless problem is basically the drug problem. The city of Los Angeles spends between $2 and $3 billion a year on homeless programs each year when you include direct government programs and money flowing through nonprofits. Strangely, they don’t have good records for where the money actually goes. But I think we have a good idea. Drugs are big money to the Left.

This is why the Left pushes back on anything that might actually help solve the problem. Blowing up trafficker boats becomes a civil rights issue. Committing military and enforcement money to stop the flow at its source becomes a budget problem.

See what I mean?; 8/14/26, 8:20 AM
Peachy+2 said...: What will Hunter Biden and Tuq'r do? They need their stuff, man.

*insert Tuq'r strange goofy evil uncomfortable demon-like laugh*; 8/14/26, 8:24 AM
Howard said...: The people who are making all of the profits from the drug trade are indeed evil, most of the people that work for them are just poor. It is unseemly to call them rats and cockroaches. Makes you sound Nazi adjacent.

That's not to say they wouldn't be legitimate targets, however, dehumanizing the enemy is a bad PR move in my opinion.; 8/14/26, 8:31 AM
boatbuilder said...: Yeah, let's not dehumanize those nice cocaine cartel folks.
[eye roll emoji].; 8/14/26, 9:11 AM
Ambrose said...: What, not "FAR-right wing"?; 8/14/26, 11:18 AM
john mosby said...: He could bring Aguirre The Wrath of God against them. CC, JSM; 8/14/26, 11:33 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: By all means, let’s start another war we can’t win. We’re not involved in enough of those yet.; 8/14/26, 11:42 AM
n.n said...: The far-right (anarchist) has nexus with the left.; 8/14/26, 4:38 PM