Rodolfo Hernández, the surprise of the elections in Colombia: Will his populist speech be enough to reach the second round?

He has given interviews in pajamas, he does not dislike the nickname “Colombian Trump”, he once said that he admired Hitler, then he hit a former councilman and another one launched open insults while he was mayor of Bucaramanga. None of that seems to have made a dent in Rodolfo Hernandezthe surprise of the electoral campaign in Colombia and that now everyone wants to scrutinize to understand how he became a serious option for the Presidency.

One of his keys is to speak bluntly: “I am going to give you the key to get out of poverty: it is to kick out these thieving politicians who are the ones who keep us mired in poverty,” he said at a recent campaign event.

Put on your shirt for our country and let’s change history ????????????????????.#RodolfoHernandez #RodolfoPresidente #Anticorruption League #elections2022 pic.twitter.com/p4hEVaOJV5

— Ing Rodolfo Hernandez ????????! (@ingrodolfohdez) May 25, 2022

The Latin American elections are being characterized by the emergence of an ‘outsider’, a candidate outside the traditional political parties who appears and, suddenly, in the final stages ends up monopolizing unthinkable votes or even winning.

Colombia is experiencing this phenomenon now. If until a month ago a second round between the leftist Gustavo Petro and the rightist Federico Gutierreznow this scenario is not so safe.

Rodolfo Hernandezthe engineer, as he likes to be called, is in an expectant third place, just two points behind Gutiérrez, who is having a hard time getting rid of the shadow of Alvaro Uribe or the president Ivan Dukethe most unpopular president that Colombia has had in recent decades.

Will he be able to beat the ‘establishment’ and reach the second round?

Rodolfo Hernández is running for the Presidency of Colombia with his League of Anticorruption Governors party. REUTERS (STRINGER/)

Rudolph, a mystery

“Hernández is a difficult character to classify”Colombian analyst Iván Garzón Vallejo, professor and researcher at the Autonomous University of Chile, told El Comercio.

In fact, it cannot be placed on the right or the left of the political spectrum, because it has both and neither, and for this reason it has not been splashed with the anti-vote that the candidacies of Petro Y Gutierrez.

Gustavo Petro, who follows first in the polls, along with his vice-presidential candidate, the environmental activist Francia Márquez. EFE/ Carlos Ortega ARCHIVE (Carlos Ortega/)

He is, in good account, an outspoken populist whose greatest letter of introduction is his roots in the central-eastern part of the country, where the department of Santander and its capital, Bucaramanga, are located, of which he was mayor until in 2019, and whose greatest emblem was the fight against corruption, a flag that is now flying in the presidential elections.

A paradox, considering that he is facing an investigation by the attorney general’s office for allegedly having intervened from his position in the award of a contract for the treatment of alternative technology in waste management.

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“Hernández is a mystery because he doesn’t have a very consistent proposal. His proposal is basically to transfer to a national level what he successfully did in a medium-sized city like Bucaramanga”adds Garzon.

The main proposal of Hernandez77, focuses on what he calls the Fifth Decree, through which he will declare a state of “internal commotion” for 90 days in order to “attack the causes that seriously threaten institutional stability and endanger coexistence citizen originated in the endemic in which corruption has become”.

“We have never had such high indicators of mistrust in the political class, that is why in these elections proposals are not as important as the need for change, and for a segment of the population a person like Rodolfo represents that desire. He has the advantage that he is not located within any spectrum, he is everything and nothing, he is many things at the same time ”Miguel García, professor at the Department of Political Science at the Universidad de los Andes, explains to “El País”.

LOOK: Colombia Elections 2022: Will it be enough for ‘Fico’ Gutiérrez to beat Petro?

Federico ‘Fico’ Gutierrez is still in second place in the polls, but Hernández is hot on his heels with the elections just days away. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (Fernando Vergara/)

A millionaire manager

One of the most striking characteristics of Hernández is that he presents himself as a successful businessman. And indeed he is. He has a fortune of 100 million dollars thanks to his construction business. Is he the ‘Colombian Trump’ then?

“I don’t care if they compare me. If people say that I am Trump for wanting to move the economy, I am not interested. What matters to me is what I will do with the people’s money to improve their living conditions, especially the poorest Colombians.” he told CNN en Español a few days ago.

“Hernández draws attention because Colombia is in a very evident situation of anomie”adds Garzón Vallejo. This lack of law is explained by the new protagonism of the FARC dissidents, the ELN guerrillas and the Clan del Golfo, one of the most feared and violent criminal gangs in the country, in addition to an increase in citizen insecurity.

“He embodies the vision of an effective manager, especially in a country like Colombia where it is considered that someone who has made money for himself does not need to steal, and that is valued as proof of efficiency”explains the expert.

“In a society with institutions that have lost credibility in recent years, the idea of ​​a strong and authoritative man who promises to cleanse the state of the corrupt stands out. But his proposal is more focused on forms than on substance. His speech of change and fight against corruption is very gassy”.

However, for Garzón Vallejo, his rapid rise in the polls will not be enough to reach the ballot, despite the fact that Hernández has said that he will even win in the first round this Sunday.

“It is true that there is a trend that shows that it is growing, but I don’t think it will reach it, because there is an important traditional political machinery in favor of Gutiérrez. In addition, and we have known this since 2016 when he won the No in the plebiscite of the peace agreement, there is an important shameful right-wing vote”, he refers. That is to say, an important hidden right-wing vote that usually appears on the same day as the elections and not in the polls.

Source: Elcomercio