A shock result in Bogotá. The American-backed maverick has done it. Colombia’s old guard is out. The new president? A populist firebrand who ran against the establishment. And he won. Big.
For Downing Street, this is a problem. A serious one. British trade officials were banking on continuity. They had cozy relationships with the previous administration. Now? Those ties are severed. The new man in the Casa de Nariño has already signalled he wants to renegotiate trade deals. He calls the UK an ‘outpost of colonial interests.’ Not a promising start.
The real worry is the domino effect. Colombia is a key gateway to Latin America. If it tilts away from the UK, others may follow. The Foreign Office is in crisis mode. Sources tell me they are scrambling to arrange a call between the PM and the president-elect. But he’s not picking up. He’s too busy celebrating with his Trump allies.
This is a huge blow to British post-Brexit trade strategy. The government had pinned hopes on Latin American markets. Now those hopes look naive. The new president is unpredictable. He’s already talking about nationalising industries. British companies with Colombian assets are nervous. They should be.
The game has changed. Watch for a spike in FTSE volatility. Watch for frantic diplomatic cables. The UK is now on the back foot in a region it thought it understood. It didn’t. And the cost will be high.