Rodolfo Hernández, the Colombian populist who says he is not like Donald Trump

Difficult to classify, the Colombian candidate Rodolfo Hernandez has been compared to politicians like Mr. former American president Donald Trump “Rodolfo is Rodolfo”, assured his Argentine strategist Ángel Becassino, who four years ago was the electoral adviser of his direct rival, the center left Gustavo Petro.

“They interview me from Brazil and talk to me about (Jair) Bolsonaro, in Argentina they tell me about Javier Milei. They interview me from anywhere and talk about (Nayib) Bukele or Trump, but no, what I think is that probably in the future nearby will appear in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, everywhere, candidates who, seeing the impact that Rodolfo had, imitate himBecassino said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Hernández, a 77-year-old real estate tycoon, was little known in Colombia a few months ago for being mayor of Bucaramanga, an intermediate city.

With his conversational and direct speech promoted in social networks against the traditional political class and corruption, it reached a rapid rise becoming the electoral surprise reaching the ballot with 28% of the votes and competing for the presidency with Petro, who got 40% of the votes.

“right-wing populist”

In a tense and fought electoral campaign, Colombians will choose between two proposals with different characteristics which represent a turning point compared to the current conservative president Iván Duque, who is not popular after massive marches against his government policies and addressing the pandemic that has aggravated inequality.

Becassino defines Hernández as an “extreme center” populist.. “His strong authority is that of a right-wing populist. On the other hand, the priority focuses on the social and development of the points of the peace agreements that have been established in Havana (with the guerilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ), make Rodolfo a man of open sensitivity, ” he added.

The strategist decided to develop what he considers Hernández’s main potential: his openness. However, he admits that it is sometimes a double-edged sword and that there are false starts that cost politically, so he has to check the damage.

Hernandez said, for example, who admires Adolf Hitler and also that it was a slip of the tongue, because in reality he wanted to refer to the scientist Albert Einstein. Recently, his proposal to immediately declare internal turmoil in case of taking over the presidency to take decisions against corruption has been controversial. However, this figure would give him exceptional powers such as the suspension of laws.

“It’s a mistake, there are things that need to be corrected … it shouldn’t be (done) in terms of projecting a dictatorial gaze,” explained Becassino, who defends Hernández and says he is non-authoritarian.

His networking strategy was successful and unprecedented in Colombian politics. Hernandez calls himself the “King of TikTok” and accumulates more than 586,000 followers.

“The task was to show a man capable of making fun of himself, of playing. The purpose of TikTok was not to capture the vote of the young, it had to generate an atmosphere of irreverence around humor. It shows Rodolfo’s disruptive character when he proposes things like reducing the bureaucracy of the state, directly attacking contracts with the argument that political parties have become associations of contractors, ” Becassino said.

When some polls predict a technical draw, Hernández’s strategy will be to get votes without participating in presidential debates with his contender. Becassino – with the advantage of knowing Petro thoroughly after having advised him in the past – believes that by entering the ballot with two candidates proposing “changes”, they must demonstrate the difference between the two.

what’s coming

“We believe that there is a climate of attacks (from the Petro campaign) … and we did not want to participate in that show”, he assured.

To close the difference he has with Petro, Hernández try to get votes from the right and the centerbut he was reluctant to forge any alliance or even to receive financial support that would compromise him, so he financed an austere $ 793,000 campaign out of his own pocket.

In recent days he began talks with Sergio Fajardo, center-right candidate and lost in the first round, however Becassino assured that he speaks according to a “central criterion: this campaign has a great alliance with the Colombian people who want change. It is not with no political party or for any other political candidacy, ” he said.

If he reaches the presidency, Hernández proposes changes in substance and form. On background tries to “clean” the state of corruption, which according to him is the cause of hunger in the country. In form, he would like to transform the presidential palace into a museum and change the tradition of settling in Bogotá to do so in his native Piedecuesta, a neighboring municipality of Bucaramanga, where he ruled, according to his strategist of him.

Agency AP

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