"We cannot allow them to steal our shirt": Colombia, in flames on the eve of their World Cup debut
The presidential elections have divided the country over the far-right candidate's approach to the national team's symbols
BarcelonaColombia is divided. As happens in other Latin American countries, it seems that half the country will vote for a far-right candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, and the other half for a left-wing candidate, Iván Cepeda. Both reached the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for June 21, with De la Espriella being the most voted candidate. This lawyer who lives in Barranquilla claims to admire Trump, Milei, or the Salvadoran Bukele, with a markedly populist discourse in which he has used a very powerful weapon: the jersey of the Colombian national football team just as the World Cup is on.
De la Espriella has adopted a tactic that worked well for the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro years ago, who managed to make wearing the Brazil jersey almost the exclusive property of the far-right a decade ago. Bolsonaro wore the yellow Brazil jersey, encouraged his followers to go vote wearing the jersey, and managed to get "some left-wing Brazilians to decide not to wear the jersey when Brazil was playing for fear of being considered very right-wing," explains journalist Bruno Rodríguez. Bolsonaro gave Trump a Brazilian national team jersey, and when he received the leader of the Spanish far-right, Santiago Abascal, he was wearing a Spanish team jersey. De La Espriella has done the same during a campaign in which he has harshly attacked the current president, the former left-wing guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro, who is finishing his term.
Cepeda, who is trying to succeed Petro, has been forced to react to his rival's tactic. "This is not a mere commercial object, this represents us as a nation, it is a symbol that unites us. It belongs to no one, it belongs to all of us, and therefore we cannot allow them to steal it from us," he said. "Let them not steal the jersey from us, let the jersey not be only for the right. It belongs to everyone," he explained.
The case has ended up in court, as a judge in Bogota prohibited De la Espriella from wearing the jersey in campaign events. De la Espriella responded by saying he would not obey her and continued to show it, although another judge has finally ruled in his favor. And all this, while the author of a biography of the lawyer, Ángel Becassino, has explained to the media that "if it weren't for the campaign, I might not even watch the World Cup, he has never been interested in football, but now he has understood that wearing the jersey gives him strength." The lawyer has been accused by many of being an opportunist, as he has adapted his discourse over the years to gain support. If when he was young he said he was an atheist and didn't follow football, now he wears the jersey and seems very religious.
Following the roadmap set by Bolsonaro, De la Espriella has also tried to get closer to footballers and former players known for gaining popularity. If the Brazilian managed to get the support of Ronaldinho or Neymar, the Colombian has done so with Faustino Asprilla or Teófilo Gutiérrez. And apparently, also with the veteran James Rodríguez. When President Petro received the Colombian national team before going to the United States, some footballers did not hide that they did not want to greet him. They did it coldly, without smiling, conveying coldness. Especially since Petro received them with the jersey on, which outraged the right, which accused him of double standards for wearing it when he criticizes De La Espriella for doing so. Petro responded by explaining that he is not campaigning and that it is normal for the president-elect of the nation to want to wear it. Furthermore, he asked his followers to wear it to prevent the jersey from falling into the hands of the far-right.
The event with the players was so tense that the cameras captured a moment when Petro's daughter, Antonella, asked James to take a photo together. The player coldly ignored the seventeen-year-old girl, who plays soccer. Social media was filled with criticism towards James, but it was young Antonella who showed more skill than her father and the candidates, and posted a video in which she told James that she admires him greatly, that she was very nervous that day, and asked all Colombians not to criticize the players: "Together we are stronger and we all want the best for the team." James responded on social media by stating that he had not heard what she said and that he would send her a signed jersey. Colombia debuts on Wednesday night to Thursday against Uzbekistan with the challenge of uniting a divided country, as in recent days people have been seen burning James's national team jersey. Petro's daughter and other voices have called for unity, but the first one who doesn't seem to pay much attention is her father, an extremely aggressive politician on social media.
The Colombian players have been approached by both candidates, creating uncomfortable situations for them. And all this, in the midst of a debate about whether a national team jersey is an electoral weapon in the hands of the right, as happened in Spain with Ciudadanos first, and Vox later. In Colombia, for now, it seems that the left wants to reclaim it.
