From 'The Lion' to 'The Tiger': Conservative Trump allies gain ground in Latin America

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Trump-endorsed outsider Abelardo de la Espriella appears to have won Colombia's presidential election, making Colombia the latest country in Latin America to have chosen more conservative leadership.

De la Espriella was leading over rival Iván Cepeda by about one percentage point — about 251,000 votes — with nearly all votes counted Monday. Officials have not yet declared a winner. Cepeda has challenged the results, but that review is unlikely to change the outcome.

De la Espriella campaigned on a tough-on-crime approach, which includes proposals like canceling peace talks with Colombian rebel groups and building mega prisons, like those in El Salvador. He was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump who described the lawyer and business owner, nicknamed “The Tiger,” as the candidate who could restore law and order in Colombia.

Here is a look at the Latin American countries that have elected conservative presidents in recent years:

Javier Milei, an economist and television commentator nicknamed “The Lion,” won Argentina’s presidential election in November 2023 by promising to slash government spending and tackle the South American nation’s decades-long inflation problem. The libertarian defeated the ruling Peronist movement.

During his tenure, Milei has stopped the nation’s central bank from printing money to finance the government deficit and has cut government spending by firing civil servants and halting investment in public infrastructure programs, while reducing subsidies for public utility bills.

Argentina's inflation has fallen from 211% in 2023 to 32% in 2025. However some have blamed Milei's austerity policies for decreasing the living standards of many Argentines, including public sector workers.

Daniel Noboa, a member of one of Ecuador’s wealthiest families, was reelected to a four- year term in April 2025, winning the election with 56% of the vote. The conservative leader has given the military a more prominent role in providing security in coastal cities overrun by drug gangs fighting over the control of ports and drug trafficking routes.

But the strategy has not substantially reduced homicide rates. The government also has been criticized for human rights abuses, such as extrajudicial executions.

Under Noboa’s watch, Ecuador’s military has started to conduct joint operations against drug traffickers with the U.S. Noboa also pushed for the reopening of a U.S. military base in Ecuador, but the proposal was struck down in a referendum last year.

Nasry Asfura, a real estate investor and former city mayor of the National Party narrowly won the presidential election in Honduras in November, defeating his closest rival by less than a percentage point.

Asfura, who belongs to the same party as former President Juan Orlando Hernández who was pardoned by Trump for a drug trafficking conviction, was endorsed by the U.S. president, who threatened to cut off aid to the small Central American country if Nasfura was not elected. Under Asfura’s administration, Honduras has received dozens of deportees from third countries through an agreement that was signed with the U.S. in early 2025, most of them Guatemalan nationals.

In December, José Antonio Kast, a conservative and a devout Catholic, won Chile’s presidential election with 58% of the vote, defeating a progressive government that had been in power for the previous four years.

In his campaigns, Kast capitalized on fears over increasing crime rates in Chile and said he would expel migrants from countries like Venezuela and Haiti that had been working in Chile without residency permits. One of his first moves after taking office has been to expand a trench along Chile’s borders with Peru and Bolivia in a bid, his government says, to stop drug trafficking and migration.

Kast’s government has recently faced protests over increasing unemployment and budget cuts that have affected public servants.

Laura Fernández, an economy minister under conservative ex-President Rodrigo Chaves, won Costa Rica’s election in February with 48% of the vote, defeating her closest rival by 15 percentage points and surpassing the 40% of votes needed to avoid a runoff election.

During her campaign, Fernández proposed tough-on-crime measures, including a state of exception that would enable police to arrest suspects without warrants, and said she would build a mega prison modeled after El Salvador’s notorious CECOT penitentiary.

Fernández’s government has received several flights with migrants from third countries deported by the U.S. as she complies with an agreement that was signed by her predecessor last year. In June, one of these flights had migrants from China, Vietnam, Colombia and Azerbaijan.

Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, center, surrounded by screens, speaks to supporters from inside a bulletproof booth during a campaign rally in Buga, Colombia, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

FILE - Honduran President Nasry Asfura, left, and Costa Rica President-elect Laura Fernandez shake hands during the inauguration ceremony of Chile's President Jose Antonio Kast, in Valparaiso, Chile, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

FILE - Presidential hopeful of the Liberty Advances coalition Javier Milei brandishes a chainsaw during a rally in La Plata, Argentina, Sept. 12, 2023.(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

A campaign banner of presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella hangs outside his party's headquarters in Barranquilla, Colombia, Monday, June 22, 2026, the day after the presidential election runoff. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the opposition Defenders of the Motherland movement addresses supporters at a celebration rally after runoff election results showed him leading in Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted through a mixed day of trading on Monday after oil prices eased and falling Big Tech stocks weighed on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, coming off its 11th winning week in the last 12, and pulled 1.8% below its all-time high set early this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 148 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slumped 1.3%.

In the oil market, prices fell following talks over the weekend between the United States and Iran on their war. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said they created a “good foundation for a successful final deal.”

An end to the war could clear the Strait of Hormuz for oil tankers and allow for the undisputed resumption of deliveries from the Persian Gulf. Iran’s military had said Saturday that it closed the Strait of Hormuz again, though U.S. Central Command has disputed that.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 3.2% to $77.52, closer to its roughly $70 price from before the war. Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 2.6% to $73.86 per barrel.

The lower oil prices, though, did not pull down Treasury yields in the bond market. Yields have been climbing because of speculation the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates this year to keep a lid on inflation, which has been accelerating because of expensive oil caused by the Iran war. Economists expect a report on Thursday to show a measure of inflation for U.S. consumers sped up to 4.1% in May from 3.8% in April.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.50% from 4.46% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war.

Traders are betting on a nearly 90% chance the Fed will raise its federal funds rate at least once by the end of the year, with a small minority calling for four increases. That’s up from the 57% chance seen just a week ago, according to data from CME Group.

High yields in bond markets worldwide caused by worries about inflation are threatening to slow economies, and they have already sent rates higher for mortgages and other kinds of loans. High yields also hurt prices for investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive. That raises the pressure on companies whose stock prices have soared in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology.

SpaceX fell 16.4% to $154.60. It’s the third straight drop for the company behind xAI since a big three-day run following its ballyhooed debut on the U.S. stock market, when it initially sold its stock at $135 per share.

The day’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500 included drops of 5% for Alphabet, 4.7% for Amazon and 4.5% for Broadcom.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, AbbVie climbed 6.2% after saying it agreed to buy Apogee Therapeutics and its potential treatments for patients with dermatologic, respiratory and other related inflammatory and immunological diseases.

Apogee Therapeutics soared 46.7% following the announcement of the deal, valued at roughly $10.9 billion.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 27.79 points to 7,472.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 148.01 to 51,712.71, and the Nasdaq composite fell 351.33 to 26,166.60.

In stock markets abroad, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% after Keir Starmer said he was stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.5% and ended at another all-time high, led by AI stocks. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7% to its own record, helped by AI-related companies.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott and AP Senior Producer Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

Options trader Joseph D'Arrigo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Options trader Doran Swan works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)