The former mayor of Bucaramanga went to the second round with almost 6 million votes, according to the latest reports from the Registrar
High-sounding comments, drawn from stone and more: this is Rodolfo Hernández, the presidential candidate third in voting intention. Photos: screenshot and Colprensa
Since he was mayor of Bucaramanga, Rodolfo Hernández has always made people talk due to his particular character and explosive way of reacting to those who question it. Then Infobae Colombia compiles some of the most notorious controversies of the candidate who will face Gustavo Petro in a second round to define the next president of the coffee nation.
The slap< /h2>
Perhaps the fact for which the engineer and businessman is also remembered the most is the slap in the face, added to words of heavy caliber, which he gave to councilor John Jairo Claroin his office after the latter accused him of corruption on November 28, 2018, when the councilor of the ASI party, John Jairo Claro Arévalo, went to the office of the then mayor with a complaint for alleged acts of corruption in which he would have incurred by the agent. This triggered a discussion between the two where insults were the protagonists, a situation that escalated to the point that Hernández attacked the councilman with a slap on the neck.
“This was a montage by the Councilman and I fell. He was asking me for an appointment since last Tuesday but I was only able to see him yesterday. He came to the office with a cameraman, I didn’t see anything wrong with him, but in the middle of the meeting he began to attack my wife and my son with lies about the Vitalogic thing, because in a moment of rage I was filled with rage and hit him with a bump I regret what happened,” the president told local media at the time of the events.
In retaliation, the First Delegate Attorney for Administrative Surveillance confirmed the suspension and ineligibility of Mayor Hernández for a period of eight months, finding him guilty of having assaulted a public servant such as Councilman Claro, incurring thus in a serious disciplinary offense by way of fraud. In addition, he had to pay him another 124 million Colombian pesos.
Rodolfo Hernández Slaps A Councilman
Adolf Hitler’s follower?
< p class=”paragraph”>HernandezHe had to come out to apologize during August 2021 after he revived an audio in which he declared himself an alleged fan of the deceased German dictator, Adolf Hitler.
The controversial statements by the former president of Bumangues took place in 2016 when, in dialogue with the station Rcn Radio, he said: “I am a follower of a great German thinker who his name is Adolf Hitler”, he assured in the interview, when he still held the role of mayor in Bucaramanga, the capital of northern Santander.
On his Twitter, Hernández published several of the sections of the interview and in one of them clarified the controversy caused by his pronouncement. However, the former president’s clarification also generated laughter and some comments.
“In front of the Hitler thing I apologize, anyone has a slip and I was wrong. The phrase was not his, it was Einstein’s. I apologize to the judicial community and to the entire Colombian people,” said Hernández, 76 years old.
And Vichada?
Weeks ago, through a video, a video was circulated of a moment in which a person approaches the candidate and asks him to send a greeting to the inhabitants of the Colombian department of Vichada, but to everyone’s surprise he showed that he didn’t know what they were talking about.
“For Vichada? What is that?”< /i>, was the answer given by the former mayor of Bucaramanga, before they explained that it was a department and proceeded to ask what its capital was.
“Ah, well! To Puerto Carreño, in Vichada, a very special greeting and I invite you to join me next May 29 in the elections. Give the checkbook to Rodolfo Hernández! I’m not going to let you down! ”, He later assured.
The reactions in networks did not take long to arise, as expected, and through hundreds of comments, Internet users expressed their opinion where they questioned that someone who intends to lead the country has no idea of the location of one of the poorest departments.
Where is Escazú?
In the middle of a presidential debate at the Bogota Book Fair (FilBo), Rodolfo Hernández said he did not know what the first environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean called Escazú was. During one of the segments, the moderator of the space, the journalist Claudia Morales, asked what the candidates for the Presidency of thought about ratifying Escazú in Colombia.
All the candidates held up sticks with Yes and No to know their opinions on the matter. However, the former president of the Santander capital had no idea what they were talking about in the room and had to ask Federico Gutiérrez for helpto explain what they meant. The fact did not go unnoticed by the moderators of the event, those attending the debate, and much less the Internet users, who questioned Hernández for, once again, ignoring such a conjunctural issue for the country.
Several troubles in the Attorney General’s Office
The race for the Presidency of the former mayor of Bucaramanga She was marked by two investigations that she faces before the Attorney General’s Office: one for modifying the manual of functions for jobs in the capital of Santander when she governed it and the second, for her controversial statements about sex workers.< /b>
Regarding the first investigation, the Public Ministry will inquire about the irregular modifications made to the Specific Manual of Labor Functions and Competences with which the Municipal Personnel Plant of Bucaramanga employed several citizens.
The second investigation was due to his controversial statements in August 2019 and that he launched against the then candidate for Mayor of Bucaramanga, Sergio Isnardo Muñoz, whom he compared to sex workers.
< blockquote class=”color_figcaption”>“He can say what he wants, we are supporting the independent candidates, not him, not him, he has been through all the parties, they have all groped him, rather they have groped him more than a prostitute from Puerto Wilches who better Said that the only thing that did not go over him was the railway, “said Rodolfo Hernández when he was directing the destinies of the capital of the department of Santander.
The former president did not want to rectify his controversial statements, he again referred to the way sex workers are employed and threw new darts at the former candidate for Mayor of Bumanga. “Let them feel offended, but tell me it’s not true, don’t they grope prostitutes? Sergio Isnardo is more groped than they are, I have all the consideration that you want with women, but I ask you to ask me another question”, Hernández told BluRadio.
improper conclusion of contractswhen he was mayor of Bucaramanga in the period 2016-2019. According to the authorities, Hernández allowed the Bucaramanga Municipal Cleaning Company (Emab) to irregularly deliver a contract to the Vitalogic company. The tender had a cost of $336 million, over 30 years, and would be used for improvements to the El Carrasco landfill, in Girón, Santander.
It is worth remembering that the Attorney General’s Office Nación assures that they have all the evidence that would show that the former mayor acted in the consulting contract 096 of 2016 so that the EMAB delivered the contract to Jorge Hernán Alarcón, representative of the company Vitalogic RSU.
These are just some of the controversies that pave the way for Rodolfo Hernández’s Casa de Nariño. However, when he was in charge of Bucaramanga he also committed other controversial events such as his troubles for alleged improper participation in politics, his xenophobic comments, among others.