Gustavo Petro, a leftist senator, celebrated his first round lead in Colombia’s presidential elections in the same way that most politicians would: in an open conference room crowded with hundreds of supporters. Confetti fell upon him.
He had a different approach to the man he will meet in a runoff on June 19.
Rodolfo Hernandez sat down at his kitchen table and spoke for five minutes to his Facebook Live followers.
He declared, “Today, the country that doesn’t want to continue to have the same politicians, who doesn’t want the same people that brought us to our current position, has won.”
The populist, aged 77 years old, rode a wave against the country’s current condition and surged late in the campaign to pass more traditional candidates.
His campaign was unaffiliated to any major party and was dominated by social media. It focused on cutting corruption and reducing wasteful spending.
He is now well-positioned to challenge Petro, a former rebel and who was long considered a political insurgent. If elected, he would be Colombia’s first leftist leader. Petro seems to be the more mainstream candidate, even though he still scares many of the country’s conservative elite.
Hernandez received 28% of Sunday’s vote in the six-candidate field, while Petro got 40%, as predicted by polls.
Hernandez, a self-made millionaire, made his fortune in real estate after growing on a small farm. He claims he paid for his campaign using his savings, rather than relying on donations.
Many Colombians compare him to Donald Trump, and call him a right-wing populist. Others disagree and say that the analogy is misleading.
Will Freeman, a Princeton University scholar specializing in Latin American politics, said that Hernandez is not a hard-right-wing candidate. He met Hernandez in February for an extensive interview. He talks a lot about poverty, inequality, and hunger. He said that he was shocked by the notion that Colombians are born into poverty and have no chance to escape.