It's widespread in Colombia, with early signs in Central America (4)
I believe the answer is:
coca
'it's widespread in colombia' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'early signs in central america' is the wordplay.
'early signs' becomes 'co' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' becomes 'elected' (voted in).
'central' means to look at the middle letters.
'america' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
The middle letter of 'elected' is 'c'.
'co'+'c'+'a'='COCA'
'with' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coca that I've seen before include "Drug-producing plant" , "Shrub whose leaves are chewed in the Andes as a stimulant" , "Leaves for snow" , "Narcotic shrub" , "South American plant from which a narcotic drug is obtained" .)