Construction businessman Rodolfo Hernandez surprised many Colombians Sunday when he moved on to the runoff in the presidential election thanks to a populist anti-corruption message spread through social media that followed in the footsteps of the Donald Trump campaign in 2016.
Now the businessman, known in Colombia as the Tik Tok King, is ahead in the polls with an eight-point lead, with 52% of those contacted saying they will vote for him in the runoff to be held on June 19, and 44% stating that they will support former guerrilla member Gustavo Petro, according to a survey by La FM radio station.
The rapid rise of the 77-year-old businessman shows that short videos on social media can have a greater impact than long speeches and forceful arguments during debates.
But Hernandez remains a great mystery to most Colombians, many of whom appear to like his pledges to fight corruption, fix the economy and end poverty even though he has said little about how he will accomplish his goals.
“Of all the presidential plans, Hernández’s was the most flimsy, the one with the fewest details,” said Erica Fraga, senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, an investigative unit of The Economist magazine. “Among the few things he has said, some of them cause concern, such as the promise to pay rewards for any complaint made against corruption, because promises like that cannot be kept.”
Wielding a message against corruption that evokes the Trump campaign slogan “clean the swamp,” Hernandez came out of nowhere to take second place in the May 29 presidential election, winning a spot to compete in the second round.
The independent candidate for the movement called the League of Anticorruption Governors had been struggling in third place, placing around 10% in polls. But he suddenly began gaining ground in the last few days of the race and ended up surpassing former Medellin mayor Federico Gutierrez, getting 28% of the vote, second only to Petro’s 40%.
Given that most of Gutierrez’s supporters have sworn to never vote for Petro, who they see as an extreme leftist willing to turn Colombia into another Venezuela, the June 19 runoff is now looking like a very tight race, analysts say.
After the election results, Hernandez celebrated from his kitchen, saying the day had shown how much Colombians want to end corruption.
But the construction businessman himself is under investigation for corruption, in a case in which prosecutors say he steered a contract to his son when he was mayor of the city of Bucaramanga.
The accusation — Hernández says he is innocent — points to alleged irregularities in a consulting contract for waste management technologies at the El Carrasco landfill in Bucaramanga when he was mayor, according to a CNN report.
The trial to determine if Hernández accepted bribes to award the contract has been set for July 21, three weeks after the election that will determine if he will be Colombia’s next president.
Running under the slogan “Do not lie, do not steal, do not betray [the voters] and zero impunity”, Hernández pledged that if he wins, he will donate all of his salary and give it to the most needy, something he also did as mayor of Bucaramanga between 2016 and 2019.
He has promised to get rid of the presidential planes, cars and helicopters used by the head of state, the vice president, ministers and the first lady. He also said he would end the use of the presidential palace to cut down on costs.
In regards to narcotics policy, Hernandez signaled in a radio interview that he is in favor of the legalization of drugs. He said he spoke with U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg and told him that in order to end drug trafficking, the demand had to end in the United States, one of the largest drug consumers in the world. “As long as there are cocaine consumers, the business will continue,” he says he told the ambassador.
Sergio Guzman, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, a political consultancy based in Bogotá, said that Sunday’s election results made it clear that Colombians are tired of the status quo in their country and want change.
But Petro’s leftist plans for change are scary for many, which opens a window of opportunity for Hernandez, Guzman said.
But no one knows what a Hernández presidency will like. He is a stubborn and tough character, Guzmán said, but he proved in Bucaramanga to be a competent administrator: He reduced the city’s budget deficit, supported LGTB causes and diversified the number of companies that could access public contracts.
But he also has weak spots, key among them the corruption case.
And in what would serve as a stratjacket on a Hernandez presidency, he would virtually have zero support in Congress.
“His party only has two deputies in the house of representatives” out of 172 seats, Guzman said. “He wants a program to reform Congress but he has no one there. He will have to row against a very strong current.”
