Pastor Jaime Beltrán, defender of Bukele and “palotherapy”, begins his mandate in Bucaramanga

In Bucaramanga, having affinity with Nayib Bukele is seen as something positive. The new mayor of one of the main cities in Colombia, the Christian pastor Jaime Andrés Beltrán, sticks out his chest when he maintains that the president of El Salvador is his reference. The winds of change blew through the capital of Santander, which was a bastion of the Liberal Party during the 19th and 20th centuries, and Beltrán took advantage of it. He took over the speech of authority and, combining it with oratory perfected for years in the Sunday sermons of his church, he convinced 91,372 Bumangueses to vote for him in the last regional elections. Just as in 2015 Rodolfo Hernández triumphed after a campaign based on the electorate's indignation with corruption, the pastor did the same with the fatigue generated by insecurity. He promised a tough hand and rode without problems until he won.

Declaring himself an admirer of Bukele was the icing on the cake of a narrative that Beltrán previously began to consolidate. According to official figures from the municipality, 2,858 cases of theft were recorded in 2021, an increase of 24% compared to the previous year. The situation led to episodes of citizens taking justice into their own hands becoming common and viral on social networks. One of these videos, in which a group of people is seen beating an alleged thief, was shared by Beltrán in March 2022 through his X account —formerly Twitter—, and accompanied by an explanation of why he approves this type of actions. “I do not agree with violence and aggression, but I do agree that we defend ourselves.”

Local and national media reviewed the pastor's position regarding “palotherapy,” as he decided to call it. Although some sectors criticized him, the support he received was greater, largely due to the rise in crime in the city of more than 600,000 inhabitants. The number of reported robberies grew by 9% in 2022. A survey last February carried out by the Bucaramanga Metropolitana Como Vamos program revealed that insecurity was the main problem for 60% of those surveyed. Beltrán, who studied Social Communication, used several resources to be perceived as a possible solution. He attended the sessions of the Council—which he came to for taking second place in the 2019 elections—wearing a bulletproof vest and requested authorization from the Police to “shield Bucaramanga.”

Gerardo Martínez, columnist for the regional newspaper Vanguard and political analyst, considers that the outcome of the elections took shape from that moment on. “He managed to tune in very early with the people and sell himself as the subject of security and palotherapy. He said that he was going to close the city, leaving out the criminal gangs. None of his rivals had a proposal that had an impact at that level in economic or social development terms.”

It was then that he used the strategy of bringing up Nayib Bukele. The Salvadoran president, in his attempt to turn his country into “a gang-free territory,” declared a state of emergency in February 2022. In the following 19 months, according to records from his own Administration, he imprisoned more than 72,000 people. , 1.6% of the 6.3 million that make up the population of the Central American nation. The security model, which Bukele proudly displays to the rest of the world and places its popularity at 90%, reduced the homicide rate from 38 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019 to 7.8 in 2022. However, human rights organizations denounce that hundreds of detainees are denied procedural guarantees, such as due process, and that the figure includes nearly 1,600 minors.

Beltrán, who adopted the image of a padlock as his campaign logo, expressed his desire to emulate Bukele at one of his events. It was August. There were more than two months until the election, but it was important to reinforce the message. In an auditorium, before dozens of followers, the pastor made it clear who is his lighthouse in terms of security. “People mom [cansó] to hide and wants to see significant change in the city. If Bukele managed to change the most complex figures of violence in El Salvador, then El Salvador will have a Bukele, but Bucaramanga will have Jaime Andrés to take on the challenge.”

Once again, as when he defended “palotherapy”, his words caused a stir. “The discussion of the violation of rights is being discussed from the international order and they have to corroborate it. I do not enter into the discussion, nor the assertion of what is being done and what is not being done. What I can say is that the figures of decrease in the issue of gangs and violence have been repetitive and this is what the Bumangueses also expect from the leaders today,” he told EL PAÍS in a telephone conversation held at that time.

The new mayor of Bucaramanga was not the first leader in the region to admit his sympathy with Bukele. Engineer Rodolfo Hernández, who governed the city between 2016 and 2019, did so in 2022, during his presidential campaign. In one of his massive Facebook broadcasts he noted that the president of El Salvador was “popular, but not populist” and praised his fight against corruption. Although Hernández was defeated by Gustavo Petro, he reached the second round and obtained 10.6 million votes. In Bucaramanga he swept that time with 252,017 votes, 73.58%.

Beltrán and Hernández are not political allies, although they share other traits. In addition to basing their speeches on indignation and admiring Bukele, they were active in the once hegemonic Liberal Party. The traditional community included Beltrán in its list of candidates for the Bucaramanga Council in 2012 and 2015, being the most voted in both elections, and supported Hernández when he took his first steps in electoral politics as a councilor for Piedecuesta, a neighboring municipality. Later they would break away from liberalism and seek to win the Mayor's Office with other support: Beltrán achieved it with Colombia Justa Libres, a Christian party; Hernández, with Lógica, Ética y Estética, a significant citizen movement for which he collected signatures.

Since 1988, Colombia has allowed citizens to elect their mayors. Before Hernández won in 2015, eight of the nine leaders elected in Bucaramanga belonged to the Liberal Party. History books also tell that during the 20th century, when the two-party system dominated politics, the city favored liberalism. The arrival of a Christian pastor whose main proposal is to establish order through force seems contrary to that past.

However, for Councilman Carlos Parra, who came second in the Mayoral elections, there is a distinction between the values ​​of Bumangueses and the party they vote for. “None of the liberal mayors had an ideological agenda. They are not recognized for defending individual freedoms. People voted for them, but it was a matter of custom and clientelism. The electorate, although it has changed little by little, is still predominantly conservative and angry.” He remembers that in the plebiscite to endorse the peace agreements with the FARC, in October 2016, 55% of the city's voters opted for the option of Noand that in the 2018 presidential elections the Uribista Iván Duque won with 57%.

Two adherents to Beltrán's campaign support this theory: that of Diego Tamayo, who had the endorsement of the Democratic Center, and that of Manuel Parada, of Creo, the party headed by Federico Gutiérrez, presidential candidate of the right in 2022 and now mayor from Medellin. Both joined the pastor before the end of the fight and have stated that they were motivated, among other reasons, by his ideological closeness and his concern for strengthening security.

Beltrán, who did not agree to an interview with EL PAÍS, has the spotlight on him, as Hernández did a few years ago. Whether because of his work as a preacher or because he is linked to Bukele, the new mayor has the opportunity to continue growing politically as a visible figure on the Colombian right. His first big challenge is now, with the Mayor's Office.

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