Who is Marelen Castillo, the unknown running mate of Rodolfo Hernández | PROFILE

After failing in several attempts to find a female running mate, the populist Rodolfo Hernandez found his perfect duo: Marelen Castillo, a teacher and researcher unknown in the public sphere, and an engineer like him, with whom he will be in the dispute for the second presidential round in Colombia.

The last proposition you pursued Hernandez He was faithful to his explosive and controversial character: the journalist Paola Ochoa, controversial for her opinions that although at first she seemed to accept, took a step back, giving rise to the perfect match for the candidate.

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Afro-Colombian, mother of two children and with a career as a teacher and researcher, Castillo has moved to the center of Colombian politics after the results of the first presidential round this Sundaywhich have put the Hernández-Castillo duo in a second round that has shaken the Colombian political board.

In the ballot, scheduled for June 19, they will face Gustavo Petro and his vice-presidential formula, France Marquezof the left-wing coalition Historical Pact, in a surprising turn of events that opens the door to an unprecedented situation in the country and opens a scenario full of uncertainty.

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Unlike Marquezalso Afro-Colombian and social activist who has played a much more active role in the electoral campaign and has been a much more visible face in the presidential race, Castillo remains unknown to many Colombians.

WHO IS CASTLE

Marelen Castillo was born in Cali in 1968, where she grew up in a middle-class family as the oldest of five sisters. Her professional career began in 1992, when she finished her undergraduate degree and was a teacher for eleven years at the Colegio Mayor Santiago de Cali. She never strayed from the academic path.

Graduated in Biology and Chemistry from the Santiago de Cali University, industrial engineer from the Autonomous University of the West and with a master’s degree in Business Administration and Management, She specialized in the educational field, something that led her to hold different positions of responsibility at the Catholic University Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto).

Castillo and the engineer did not know each other, but his resume reached the table of the former mayor of Bucaramanga from the hand of the former rector of the Uniminuto Alonso Ortíz Serrano, cousin of a personal friend of the candidate and friend of the academic from Cali.

Questioned in recent months for her lack of experience in public life, Castillo has explained on several occasions that he accepted the leap into politics from the hand of Hernández because politics and education have the same purpose: to serve citizens.

THE ROLE OF THE CANDIDATE

After the last refusal he received Hernandez to embark on the road to the Presidency of the country, Castle she became the perfect candidate, and has been in recent weeks, adopting the candidate’s style of campaigning: few appearances in public squares or debates.

Castillo has been the balance in the presidential career of the engineer from Bucaramanga: with a more moderate character and personality, without the eccentricities and outbursts typical of the idiosyncrasies of Hernandezhas known how to maintain the discourse of fighting corruption and removing the rulers of the old Colombian politics from power.

He has also joined the “rhodolfist” style of campaigning in the regions, which has been part of his success, and of not participating in massive events as his political rivals have staged. Yes, he has attended some debates, an option that the engineer has resisted.

This Monday begins a new stage in the Colombian electoral cycle, the final “sprint” in which both candidates will have to define their strategy to reach the House of Nariño and Hernandez He must decide the role that his vice-presidential running mate will have in these 20 days.

Source: Elcomercio

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