Rodolfo Hernández Suárez

Hernández Suárez in December 2020

Rodolfo Hernández Suárez (26 March 1945 – 2 September 2024) was a Colombian politician, businessman and engineer. Hernández was a presidential candidate in the 2022 election.

Hernández Suárez was mayor of Bucaramanga from 2016 to 2019. In 2022, he became Senator of Colombia. His political views are seen as right-wing populism. He was compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump for his anti-corruption stance and his background as a businessman.

Political career

In May 2022, he advanced to the June run-off election against left-wing Senator Gustavo Petro after coming in second place in the first round voting. He was called the "King of TikTok" for using the app many times during his presidential campaign. In June 2022, he lost the election to Petro by a 47% to 50% vote margin.

After losing the election, Hernández Suárez applied for his party to become a legal party by the National Electoral Council. LIGA became a party on 4 August 2022 and Hernández became the party's president.

On 23 June 2022, Hernández Suárez accepted a senate seat offered to the runner-up in a presidential election. However, he said he wished to run for office in Santander in 2023 and said that his senate tenure may last for no more than a few months. He, along with all members of Congress, were sworn in on 20 July. Hernández claimed his time in the senate was like having Lionel Messi as a goalkeeper. However, he resigned from the upper house on 25 October, saying that the position was "not right" for him.

Controversy

In a 2016 interview, Hernández Suárez said that he was "a follower of a great German thinker, named Adolf Hitler." He later apologized and said he meant to say Albert Einstein.

Personal life

Hernández Suárez was born in Piedecuesta, department of Santander, in 1945, and was raised in nearby Bucaramanga.

His father was kidnapped and held for 135 days by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), and Juliana, one of his four children, was kidnapped and possibly killed by a guerrilla group in 2004, after he refused to pay the ransom, saying it would put the rest of his family at a higher risk of kidnapping.

Hernández Suárez died of problems caused by liver surgery and colon cancer at a clinic in Piedecuesta, Colombia on 2 September 2024, aged 79.

References

  1. ↑ Quesada, Juan Diego. "El redentor de Bucaramanga". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  2. ↑ "Así es Rodolfo Hernández, el 'Donald Trump' colombiano que quiere ser presidente". CNN (in Spanish). 2022-05-28. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  3. ↑ "Elecciones presidenciales en Colombia 2022, en vivo: Gustavo Petro y Rodolfo Hernández competirán por la presidencia". El Pais. 29 May 2022.
  4. ↑ "'TikTok King', 77, challenges ex-rebel for Colombia's top job". BBC News. 2022-05-30. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  5. ↑ Gandolfi, Sara (2022-05-30). "Colombia, slogan anti-corruzione e balletti sui social: il re di TikTok Hernandez va al ballottaggio". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  6. ↑ Bocanegra, Nelson; Griffin, Oliver; Vargas, Carlos (19 June 2022). "Colombia elects former guerrilla Petro as first leftist president". Reuters. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  7. ↑ de 2022, 20 de Mayo (20 May 2022). "Cómo construyó Rodolfo Hernández su fortuna y qué tan grande es". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ "¿Rodolfo Hernández renunciará al Senado para aspirar a la Gobernación de Santander?". Semana (in Spanish). 24 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  9. ↑ "Colombia's congress begins new session with ambitious reform agenda". Reuters. 21 July 2022. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "Rodolfo Hernández se despidió finalmente del Congreso: "Hoy le digo adiós a este paso por el Senado"". infobae (in Spanish). 25 October 2022. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  11. ↑ Puentes Rueda, Daniela (17 August 2021). "Rodolfo Hernández sí dijo que era seguidor de Hitler". ColombiaCheck. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  12. ↑ "Colombia's historic election heads to perilous runoff with big implications for US: ANALYSIS". ABC News. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  13. ↑ "Así es Rodolfo Hernández, el 'Donald Trump' colombiano que quiere ser presidente". CNN (in Spanish). 2022-05-29. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  14. ↑ "Rodolfo Hernández revela por qué no pagó el rescate de su hija, asesinada por un grupo armado". infobae (in European Spanish). 30 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  15. ↑ Fallecio Rodolfo Hernández, excandidato presidencial (in Spanish)