What is Colombian hard-right president-elect's plan?

President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella is set to take Colombia hard to the right by building "mega-prisons" and forging ever closer ties with the United States to combat drug trafficking.

The millionaire lawyer-turned-politician narrowly won Sunday's run-off vote with his anti-establishment stance and tough talk on crime, bringing an end to the country's first-ever leftist government.

The political outsider will take office in August and is looking to shrink the size of the state, conduct a bombing campaign against Colombia's myriad armed groups and review the Latin American country's involvement in international organizations including the United Nations.

"We are beginning a new era!" he said in his victory speech on Sunday night after he won 49.66 per cent against leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda's 48.70 per cent.

Plan Colombia II 

The world's leading cocaine producer Colombia is swerving right as US President Donald Trump plays out shows of strength against drug-trafficking across Latin America.

Bogota-Washington relations grew strained under leftist President Gustavo Petro, who engaged in online spats with Trump and did not participate in the US leader's "Shield of the Americas" anti-crime coalition.

De la Espriella, who holds dual US-Colombian citizenship and identifies as a "Republican," wants his country to join the alliance.

He has pledged to bomb drug-trafficking groups, use herbicides to eradicate coca crops and allow US bases on Colombian soil.

The so-called "Plan Colombia II" is named after a multimillion-dollar agreement with the US in the 2000s aimed at combatting drug cartels and leftist groups.

"There will be no off-limits areas for the State, no criminals enjoying impunity," De la Espriella said Sunday.

Violence 

Following in the footsteps of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele and Ecuador's Daniel Noboa, De la Espriella wants to build 10 mega-prisons where people would be held underground and fed only "bread and water."

Such pledges have sounded the alarm about human rights violations, and some commentators who see authoritarian tendencies in his discourse believe such an approach will trigger escalating violence.

De la Espriella also advocates the right to carry arms.

"People who demonstrate the physical and psychological fitness to carry a weapon will have one in the era of 'The Tiger,'" he said during the campaign in reference to a nickname he gave himself.

Economy, environment 

Colombia currently has a fiscal deficit of almost 7 per cent of GDP -- the region's second-largest after Brazil -- following high public spending to finance the Petro administration's social programs.

On the campaign trail, De la Espriella voiced a desire to dollarize the Colombian economy.

He also favors fracking -- an environmentally harmful gas and petroleum extraction process -- slashing taxes for businesses and reducing the state by 40 per cent in the style of far-right Argentine President Javier Milei.

 Withdrawal?

The president-elect has said he is open to reviewing Colombian participation in the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS).

The South American country currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council and actively participates in regional peace and security debates.

De la Espriella believes "completely useless" international organisations only serve a left-wing agenda.

He has hinted at withdrawing Colombia from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which he considers a "farce."

De la Espriella has also mused about closing some Colombian embassies abroad and transforming those left standing into business centers.