When neither the press nor the polls, much less his political contenders, were expecting him, the former mayor of Santander arrived to ‘draw the line’ in the race to succeed power to Iván Duque Márquez and sneaked into the second presidential round
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Presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández, 76 years old, is the oldest in the race to succeed Iván Duque in the Government of Colombia. Photo: Colprensa.
Prior to the 2022 presidential campaign, the name of Rodolfo Hernández Suárez was associated by public opinion with that of a politician with a very particular humor, who branded some of his electoral opponents as “prostitutes”and that he became known for the slap he gave a councilman while he was serving as mayor of Bucaramanga, one of the most important cities in Colombia. However, he is now known for being one of the strongest political contenders in the race to succeed Iván Duque as head of the Colombian state and the surprising politician who made it to the second round.
Hernández has built a good part of his public and political life in the business community, since he is not only a civil engineer and has a fortune that exceeds 100 million dollars —about 400,000 million Colombian pesos—, as he himself has recognized it, but he leads Constructora HG (Hernández Gómez y Compañía), one of the most powerful construction companies in his department, Santander.
Center-right Colombian presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández of the Liga Party of Anti-Corruption Governors speaks to the press after a meeting with businessmen in Bogotá, Colombia, on May 24, 2022. Photo taken on May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Luisa González
The aspiring to be the next tenant of the Casa de Nariño was born in Piedecuesta, a municipality in the department of Santander, for which he administered the capital between 2016 and 2019, and in which he built a large part of his fleeting but controversial resume in popularly elected positions.
Although a sector of the national and international press has pointed out that he is the “Colombian Donald Trump” because of the millions that weigh in his pockets and because of his way of speaking and expressing himself — reminiscent of the controversial former US president—, the 76-year-old politicianHe has not always been one of the wealthiest men in the land of coffee and brandy.
His origins are humble, as he comes from a peasant family led by his parents, Luis Jesús Hernández and Cecilia Suárez. Moreover, the Civil Engineering he studied, and which he brings up whenever he can, was studied at the National University of Colombia, one of the academies most recognized public figures in the country.
Although many would believe that his first public position was as president of Bucaramanga, in the last century, between 1992 and 1996, Hernández was a councilor in his native Piedecuesta. However, several journalistic reports detail that he did not even take possession of it and allegedly did not complete his term as lobbyist of the municipality that saw him born.
Rodolfo Hernández during his visit to Pereira. Photo: Twitter @ingrodolfohdez
However, he amassed his fortune, not from the public treasury checkbook, but with the help of the poorest, as he himself has ratified in interviews, speeches and interventions in social networks. The engineer devised his so-called ‘Plan 100’, with which he lent money to the most needy families so that they could acquire their social housing and, it seems, it did not go badly at all.
Even the financial success of Rodolfo Hernández has been such that he assures that, if he becomes the next president of Colombia, he will donate his salary, which is about to reach the 35 legal minimum wages in force in the country, because he simply does not need that monetary sum.
His arrival at the Mayorship of Bucaramanga could be said to have been a whim, since no one was betting that Hernández would win the elections. Not himself. And it’s not a lie. When the winner was announced, he was out of the country and received the news through social networks.
However, the Registry confirmed what, for several analysts, , it was a milestone: The candidate of the then citizen movement ‘Lógica, ‘Ética y Estética’ became the next leader of the capital of the ants culonas for the period 2016-2019 by obtaining just over 77,000 votes. It should be noted that he defeated his closest opponent by barely five thousand votes.
His time in the Bumango administration launched him into the public sphere and from there he caused a furor in his country, not only because he connected with thousands of citizens for his particular personality, but also because it caused various controversies that continue to haunt him today in his desire to be head of state: he slapped Councilman Jhon Claro in his officeand is being investigated for the alleged corruption case at Vitalogic, where he allegedly , presumably, some gifts so that his administration would deliver a contract to said company.
Although it was thought that Hernández’s district mandate in Bucaramanga could not bring more controversy, with three months left to finish his government, he resigned from the mayor’s office, after the Attorney General’s Office opened another investigation against him for alleged improper political participation. According to the Public Ministry, there are more than 30 investigations involving him.
Now, hand in hand with who would be his first lady, Socorro Oliveros, of his three children (the fourth was murdered by an armed group), of his vice-presidential ticket Marelen Castillo and of his movement League of Anti-Corruption Governors, the former Santanderean president seeks “take away the checkbook from the politicians” and become the president of a country of almost 50 million citizens, full of problems and social struggles that, it is hoped, will not be seen by another of the whims of a controversial character who, as is evident, doesn’t know what to invest his golden years in and wants to end them by being the successor to Uribe President Iván Duque.