With 28.15 percent of the vote, Rodolfo Hernández, the left-wing candidate of the Anti-Corruption League party, took Colombia's first-round election results by surprise.
Rodolfo Hernández, the candidate who seeks to break the traditional molds of politics, will have to compete against Gustavo Petra in the second round of voting that will take place on June 19, three weeks after the first round.
Some of the relevant points that Rodolfo Hernández proposes range from the issues of security and conflict, where he seeks to open a process of rapprochement between the ELN and the peace agreement signed with the FARC; in addition to seeking guarantees that allow the application of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), to mention a few.
His environmental proposals include forming teams within the armed forces to combat deforestation, displacement, illegal hunting and mining, and river pollution, as well as creating an agro-environmental map that defines the vocation of the land.
In terms of health, he proposes stimulating the national drug industry to reduce costs and providing care to the entire population, regardless of the regime to which they belong, to mention a few points.
Rodolfo Hernández and the ten things you should know about him
1.- Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, 77 years old, is originally from Piedecuesta, Colombia. He is a civil engineer, businessman and politician, as well as leader of the political movement League of Anti-Corruption Governors.
2.- His political career includes having been mayor of Bucaramanga from 2016 until his resignation in 2019.
3.- In 1992 he was a councillor for the municipality of Piedecuesta, in Santander, however, he never attended or took office as a councillor. His participation was limited to sending a letter announcing his resignation when his term expired.
4.- He has his own fortune and presents himself as "Engineer Rodolfo Hernández." He calls himself an "outsider," that is, an independent politician outside of the traditional parties.
5.- In the last Colombian elections he obtained 5.9 million votes, which makes him compete in a second round with Gustavo Petro, the latter being the favorite to win the presidency.
6.-He comes from a working-class family, and made his fortune in the 1990s when Colombia was going through a construction crisis and entered the low-income housing business.
7.- He is the creator of PLAN 100, a financing plan in which families could buy a house in 100 monthly installments, paying them directly to the engineer whose company was both a construction company and a bank.
8.- Rodolfo Hernández has had a life marked by the guerrillas, since his father was kidnapped for more than 100 days by the FARC and it is believed that the ELN kidnapped and killed his daughter.
9.- Despite his age, he is a famous Tik Toker with a total of 540.7 thousand followers and a total of 4.3 million “Likes” with the account ingrodolfohernandez, where he has become known. He also maintains an anti-system discourse with which he has managed to beat other candidates with a more consolidated track record and has also renounced large public events.
10.- Marelen Castillo, the “perfect unknown” is his vice-presidential candidate.
Castillo is from Cali, she holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente and a master's degree in Business Administration and Management. She has never held political office.
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