Popping up in a bulletproof booth wearing Colombia’s yellow soccer jersey, fist pumping the air, Abelardo De La Espriella roars to crowds of thousands, “Your tiger is here!”

Just a few months ago, he was virtually unknown, traveling through Latin America — and hanging around President Trump’s golf club near Miami — trying to make connections and drum up support.

Now, Mr. De La Espriella, 47, could be elected the next president of Colombia, one of the largest economies in Latin America and historically Washington’s closest ally in the region.

After winning the most votes in the first round, he faces a left-wing senator, Iván Cepeda, in a runoff on Sunday.

Mr. De La Espriella, a criminal defense lawyer and businessman with no political experience, seemingly came out of nowhere, propelled by a self-financed populist campaign, a social media blitz and, recently, an endorsement from Mr. Trump.

He has divided Colombians. Supporters say his combative energy is needed to defeat cocaine-trafficking groups, while critics warn of an authoritarian threat, as Mr. De La Espriella pledges to “disembowel the left” and ruthlessly pursue opponents with the help of the United States.

Many on both sides are still asking: Who is this man?

An Opera-Singing Miami Lawyer

His campaign has borrowed ideas from other right-wing leaders — megaprisons from President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, cost-cutting from President Javier Milei of Argentina (along with a tiger mascot, a nod to Mr. Milei’s lion) — and has seized on anger at Colombia’s outgoing leftist president, Gustavo Petro.

Mr. De La Espriella has vowed to restore security, shrink the state, take control of the health system and closely collaborate with the Trump administration.

He has pitched himself as a patriot, wearing the national soccer jersey and a Panama hat and saluting crowds with the slogan “Firme por la patria,” or “Standing firm for the homeland.”

Not long ago, he cut a different figure.

Mr. De La Espriella, who declined to be interviewed for this article, spent more than a decade in Miami, where he was known for handling high-profile legal cases back in Colombia.

He projected wealth and refined taste with tailored suits and fedoras, sprinkled Italian into conversations, sang opera and opened a piano bar called Místico.

“He was a Miami playboy,” said María Jimena Duzán, a prominent Colombian journalist.

Back then, he seemed less enchanted with his native land. He complained about not being able to find a proper barber in Colombia and called ajiaco, a beloved traditional dish, “prison stew.”

“He has a tendency toward what we would call behaving like a divo,” said Ángel Becassino, a biographer.

‘An Excellent Work Niche’

Mr. De La Espriella was raised in Córdoba, a cattle-ranching region along the Caribbean coast that was a hotbed for right-wing paramilitaries — armed groups formed by landowners to fight left-wing guerrillas.

By the 1990s, the paramilitaries had become another violent scourge — seizing land, committing massacres and trafficking drugs before eventually agreeing to disband.

Mr. De La Espriella sensed an opportunity.

He created a peace foundation, bringing university students to meet paramilitary members, who he argued should be treated as political actors rather than prosecuted as criminals. Politicians accused of having ties to paramilitaries sought him out.

“Paramilitary politics is an excellent work niche,” he told a reporter in 2008. “And I didn’t want to sit out the most important event in Colombia.”

Days before the runoff, his rival, Mr. Cepeda, accused Mr. De La Espriella of being a paramilitary “accomplice.”

Mr. De La Espriella, who has accused Mr. Cepeda of having ties to left-wing groups, did not respond to a request for comment.

High-Profile Clients

Mr. De La Espriella moved to Miami and took on high-profile clients, including accused drug traffickers and the mastermind of one of Colombia’s largest pyramid schemes.

Then there was Alex Saab, accused by the U.S. authorities of helping launder hundreds of millions of dollars for Venezuela’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro. Mr. De La Espriella has downplayed the relationship, saying he cut ties with Mr. Saab once he was sought by the United States.

Mr. De La Espriella also defended Colombian celebrities and, eventually, his personal hero: the former two-term president Álvaro Uribe, who himself was implicated in paramilitary violence.

Mr. Uribe became his calling card, helping open doors in Florida. Joaquín Pérez, a Cuban American lawyer in Miami who defended extradited paramilitary commanders, recalled Mr. De La Espriella phoning Mr. Uribe and putting him on speakerphone to say hello.

Mr. De La Espriella shuttled between the United States and Colombia, and his offices were lined with photos of powerful Colombian clients.

Iván Cancino, a lawyer and longtime associate of Mr. De La Espriella in Bogotá, said critics had scrutinized him precisely because of his success.

“People bringing up his client list simply shows that he was an excellent lawyer because many people sought out his services,” he said.

‘Better Call Abelardo’

While Mr. De La Espriella remained unknown to most Colombians, a string of accusations put him on the radar of journalists.

Clients have come forward saying that he asked them for millions to “tap” lawmakers on their behalf or stole their money.

Mr. De La Espriella has pushed back against the claims and targeted the press, filing nearly 110 lawsuits against journalists, according to an analysis by the Bogotá-based Foundation for Press Freedom.

Among those he sued was a Colombian columnist who compared him to Saul Goodman, the ethically questionable lawyer originally from “Breaking Bad,” in a column headlined, “Better Call Abelardo.”

The case was ultimately dropped, but Jonathan Bock, the columnist, said Mr. De La Espriella screamed at him in a hearing, threatened to seize his assets and demanded a public apology — behavior that revealed, Mr. Bock said, “the way he understands power.”

Prodigal Son

Mr. De La Espriella gave up the law a few years ago.

He and his wife, Ana Lucía Pineda, appeared to be settled in Miami — they had bought a multimillion-dollar home, and Mr. De La Espriella was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2023 — but the next year, they packed up their four children and moved to Florence, Italy.

Last year, he announced his presidential run.

The man who had reinvented himself when he left Colombia reinvented himself again when he returned. He had found God after a relative’s death, he said, and had a new appreciation for Colombian cuisine.

He was inspired to run, according to people close to him, by last year’s assassination of another conservative presidential hopeful, Miguel Uribe Turbay. He had come back, he said, to “save” Colombia.

Republican Connections

Mr. De La Espriella went to Mr. Trump’s Doral golf club near Miami in March to rub shoulders with conservative Latin American leaders and U.S. officials at a summit hosted by the president.

Nearby, he met Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio, a Colombian-born Republican with close ties to the White House, for coffee. “He’s a 20/10 on the energy scale, which I love,” he said of Mr. De La Espriella in an interview.

He also spent time with Representative María Elvira Salazar, a Republican from Miami whose campaign he had donated to. She later supported his run and called him “a personal friend.”

In Florida, he worked other connections built during his Miami years.

Fabio A. Andrade, a city commissioner and prominent Colombian American Republican friend of Mr. De La Espriella, said he and others had “held important meetings” with Colombian consuls to encourage Colombians abroad, who tend to lean right, to vote.

As for the most important vote of confidence — Mr. Trump’s — Mr. Moreno said that “the president makes his own decisions” when it comes to endorsements. But, he added, “I certainly gave him a very strong point of view.”

“The president clearly knows that he’s the guy that he can work with,” Mr. Moreno added.

Colombia, the Winner

To Alejandro Salazar, a business strategist and co-author of “Colombia Ganadora,” or “Colombia the Winner,” Mr. De La Espriella represents a return of the aggressive optimism of Mr. Uribe’s terms two decades ago.

“He symbolizes a thriving Colombia, a Colombia that loves freedom,” he said.

Mr. De La Espriella also represents a leader who is not afraid to provoke.

He told a female journalist on a talk show last month to look at a photo of his crotch that he said had won him “some awesome votes from the female electorate.”

And as the runoff approached, Mr. De La Espriella promised to jail anyone who challenged his victory.

“They’ll see how hard the tiger bites,” he said. “I’ll see if they’re so tough and cute when the tiger has his foot on their neck and has them buried 15 meters underground.”

Max Bearak contributed reporting. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.