Biography

Who is “Colombian Donald Trump” Rodolfo Hernández?

The engineer surprised by defeating the Uribe candidate and placing himself in the second round of the Colombian elections.

The engineer and Rodolfo Hernández are two already inseparable concepts in the Colombian political scene, especially in a race in which this tycoon has championed his status as an “outsider” to try to win the Presidency and govern through controversy.

The “Colombian tropical Trump”, as some refer to him, did not have many real chances, according to the first projections, of achieving a victory at the polls; he was unknown to most Colombians, with the exception of the department of Santander, where he grew up and made his fortune.

But Hernández, candidate of the Anti-Corruption Governors League movement, created by him and who does not define himself politically although his proposals tend more towards populism, has become the surprise of the campaign. Last weekend, his passage to the second round for the Presidency of Colombia together with Gustavo Petro was confirmed.

The beginning

The successful and millionaire businessman, far from traditional politics and Colombian castes, started his career in Bucaramanga, capital of the department of Santander, in the northeast of the country.

He was born in that region, into a working-class family, in 1945, specifically in Piedecuesta, the land that gratified him with the millions that he now has in his account after entering the housing construction business. of social interest.

Hernández is married to Socorro Oliveros and has four children: Juliana, who disappeared after being kidnapped by the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in 2004, Luis Carlos, Mauricio and Rodolfo José.

Already in that campaign that catapulted him into politics, he made the word “engineer” inseparable from his name, precisely trying to give the image that since he was already rich, he did not need to steal from public coffers to swell his pockets. . Something that worked for him and has accompanied him in his race for the Presidency.

He came to power in Bucaramanga from his house: he bought the apartment across the street, where he set up an office where he received everyone. His eccentricities also followed him to the Mayor’s Office, where every Monday he broadcast his popular “Talk to the Mayor” on Facebook, which earned him a couple of controversies.

Not afraid of confrontation

But without a doubt, what has most marked his presence in the political scene has been his character, with a tendency to the picturesque and vulgar, and without any fear of confrontation, in which he has worked on his quality of always going out unscathed.

Hernández is an “attractive candidate” because he has innovative ideas, if you like, unorthodox, and “he transmits them without filters, something that can connect with voters,” political analyst Felipe Botero explains in an interview with Efe, adding that he does not means that they are “plausible”.

The engineer came to the race for the Presidency with some controversies behind him, such as an interview where he assured that he admired Adolf Hitler or when he hit an opposition councilor from the Mayor’s Office of Bucaramanga, something that led to the suspension of his position.

His campaign, like the one that brought him to the mayor’s office, has been based on a speech from which he makes a voracious criticism against corrupt practices, widely spread in Colombia, as well as against traditional politicians, whom he accuses of all the evils that the country suffers.

Despite this speech that has become a flag, Hernández is involved in a corruption case that dates back to his time as mayor. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of entering into a consultancy contract for the management of garbage in Bucaramanga with alleged irregularities, for which it will not be known if he is responsible until the trial is held, scheduled for after the elections.

The vote of supporters

The success of the engineer is in the regions, especially in the “santanderes”, referring to his native Santander and the neighboring department of Norte de Santander. Unlike the rest of the candidates, Hernández has not toured the country in rallies in public squares, but rather in small meetings with supporters.

His “explosive and rebellious” personality, as well as being somewhat “authoritarian and intolerant”, is what “people like”, considers Viveros.

But Hernández has proven to be “a bit naive about how democratic institutions work and this can work against him,” since he “believes that the president has a capacity” to make decisions that he actually does not have.

If he becomes president, Hernández will not have a party in Congress, something that could lead to difficulties when governing.

Despite all the obstacles that come his way, the engineer “goes all out” and continues with a presidential campaign with a strong presence on social networks.

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