Rodolfo Hernández, the populist millionaire who was close to becoming president of Colombia in 2022, dies

Rodolfo Hernández, the businessman turned politician who was close to winning the presidency of Colombia in 2022, died on Monday. Cancer, which he himself revealed last March during a court hearing in which he was convicted of corruption, kept him in an intensive care unit for two months. The International Hospital of Colombia confirmed the news at 1.30 pm. “Despite all the efforts made by our medical team and assistance, Engineer Rodolfo Hernández Suárez passed away today due to complications from his metastatic neoplastic pathology of the colon,” explains the medical center. “Any additional information will be communicated through official channels, in accordance with the wishes of the family.”

Very popular in Bucaramanga, the city of which he was mayor between 20215 and 2019, Hernández left politics after a brief stint in the Senate in 2022. Born in Piedecuesta, 20 kilometers from the departmental capital of Bucaramanga, he considered himself a son of public education, and made his fortune as a construction businessman in his native Santander, a department in central-eastern Colombia. After being close to the local political class, especially the traditional Liberal Party, he broke with them to enter the electoral arena in 2015. That year he was elected mayor of the city of more than half a million inhabitants with an anti-political speech that positioned him as the most important figure in the country. outsider.

As mayor, he managed to straighten out the city’s ailing finances amid bickering with local politicians and an extravagant and spontaneous style, which reached its most conspicuous point when, in the middle of a live broadcast on social media, he slapped an opposition councilor, which earned him suspension from office. His detractors often recalled several episodes charged with xenophobia or misogyny. He resigned shortly before the end of his term to campaign for his chosen successor, the victorious Juan Carlos Cárdenas. He left with a popularity rating of almost 85%.

His presidential campaign had a unique path. Little known outside his home region, he launched it without a political party to support him and with a notable presence on social media. He started with a marginal 3% of voting intention. His first vice-presidential candidate, the journalist Paola Ochoa, resigned after five days. While the right was organizing a consultation between five candidates, supported by recognized parties and which included names more familiar to Colombians, Hernández gradually climbed positions until he pulverized the winner of that vote, the former mayor of Medellín, in the first round. Fico Gutierrez.

President Gustavo Petro has already spoken out. “I regret the death of Rodolfo Hernández after a long battle against cancer, a hug to his family,” he said on his visible X account.

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