'Tiger' supporters celebrate victory for Colombia's far-right

BARRANQUILLA, COLOMBIA:

The streets of the Colombian city of Barranquilla turned into a carnival on Sunday night, after hard-right Abelardo de la Espriella beat his leftist rival to win the country's presidential runoff election.

Thousands of people celebrated the victory of De la Espriella, who calls himself "The Tiger" and his followers "the pack," with flares, fireworks and flags.

The 47-year-old gained popularity during his election campaign with tough-on-crime rhetoric, promising to wage war against drug-running guerrilla groups.

Samuel Gomez, a 39-year-old school principal, said he was "very happy and above all tomorrow I'm going to go to work very calm... calm knowing that the issue of security will be addressed again."

De la Espriella made a triumphant speech to a crowd while sporting the canary yellow national football jersey he adopted as his campaign uniform, on the banks of the Magdalena River.

"We are beginning a new era!" he told supporters from behind thick bulletproof glass, where he stood alongside his vice presidential running mate.

"To those who have sown violence, terror, drug trafficking, and corruption all these years: your time is up," he said.

With almost all the votes counted, De la Espriella, a millionaire lawyer who has never held public office, had 49.66 percent of the vote versus left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda's 48.70 percent.