Candidate Abelardo de la Espriella obtained 43.74% of the votes in the Colombian presidential elections on May 31, 2026, and will face a runoff with candidate Iván Cepeda of the Historical Pact. Since then, a video has been shared on social media showing a man hitting a woman in a room, with the claim that it is De la Espriella. However, the recording corresponds to a case of violence in Mexico, in which the subject was identified by the victim as Jorge Rabadán.
“Abelardo de la Espriella assaults his wife while she was sleeping next to their daughter for not winning the elections in the first round,” says one of the publications sharing the video on Facebook (1, 2), X (1, 2), TikTok, and Telegram.
De la Espriella, a 47-year-old lawyer, has been criticized on multiple occasions for comments that are labeled as sexist and homophobic. Among these, by the former vice-presidential candidate himself, Juan Daniel Oviedo, who was the running mate of Senator Paloma Valencia. Oviedo, after becoming the third most voted duo in the first electoral day, spoke to the media on May 31, with statements that ruled out his support for the candidate of the Defenders of the Homeland Movement.
On that date, Juan Daniel Oviedo referred to Abelardo de la Espriella’s campaign and described it as “dirty, sexist, and homophobic.” “It’s incredible that Colombia is debating its future around homophobia, sexism, and irresponsibility when it comes to governing,” he added.
In fact, on June 2, 2026, the 129th Municipal Criminal Court with Knowledge Function of Bogotá ordered De la Espriella to issue a public apology for sexist remarks during an interview and for pressuring a journalist to make comments about his genitals in a photograph, with which he claimed to have obtained the support of the “female electorate.”
This was the resolution of a tutela action promoted by Tatiana Echavarría Arango, who questioned the candidate’s comments. According to the ruling, it was concluded that De la Espriella’s expressions linked women’s voting intentions to physical attraction to a presidential candidate, leaving a message that projects women’s political decision-making capacity by questioning that it would not be made “based on rational, programmatic, or ideological considerations typical of autonomous citizenship.”
Verification: the real origin of the disseminated video
EL TIEMPO and AFP verified that the viral video showing a man in a cap hitting a woman lying in bed does not show the presidential candidate.
A reverse image search on Google with some frames from the sequence yielded the same video published on Instagram by the account “justiciaporpau” on June 2, 2026. In it, it is reported that a woman in Mexico named Paula Fajardo was a victim of abuse by her ex-husband, identified as Jorge Rabadán.
The woman’s Instagram account also hosts other videos of the same person abusing her in other parts of her house. Different local media also identified the aggressor as Jorge Francisco Rabadán Torres.
Among these, the news portal Quadratín Morelos detailed that the incident was specifically reported in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The publication cited statements from the complainant herself, who affirmed: “For a long time I heard that it never happened, that it was exaggerated or invented. However, the images speak for themselves.”
Another local website, under the name SDP Noticias, released statements from the Secretariat of Women of Morelos. The entity stressed that it was addressing the case.
“Legal advice, institutional accompaniment, and co-assistance in the follow-up of corresponding legal actions (…) prioritizing at all times close, professional attention respectful of their human rights, as well as the necessary institutional coordination to strengthen access to justice,” reads their statement, which also maintained that “punctual follow-up” will be given to the case.
This article is part of El Filtro, a collaborative initiative of El Tiempo and AFP Factual.
Doubts about the veracity of information, a photo, or a video? Contact us: anaalv@eltiempo.com
