Rodolfo Hernández, Gustavo Petro’s strongest opponent in the 2022 presidential elections, engineer and founder of the League of Anti-Corruption Rulers party, has been sentenced this Thursday to 64 months in prison for the crime of improperly concluding contracts, in a case of corruption carried out by his son and that occurred when he was mayor of Bucaramanga (Santander). The fight against corruption was, precisely, the strongest banner of his failed campaign for the Presidency of Colombia.
The judge in the case, who ruled in the first instance, clarified that the politician could pay the penalty at home, through the mechanism of house arrest, thanks to several reasons, including his medical diagnosis of terminal cancer. The sanction also includes a fine of 66.66 legal monthly minimum wages, which is equivalent to just over 86 million pesos (about $22,000). In addition, he disqualifies him from holding public office for 80 months. Hernández had already been disqualified last April by the Attorney General’s Office, but for 10 years and for another reason: having influenced the 2019 mayoral campaign of Juan Carlos Cárdenas, his candidate to succeed him in that position.
The decision to condemn the Santander businessman and politician had already been known on March 14 of this year, but the definition of the sanctions was pending. The court found that he is responsible for irregularities in a public contract related to the change in the garbage collection scheme in Bucaramanga, when he was mayor. The company Vitalogic, by whose name the case is usually referred to, was seeking to win a contract with the municipality and, in parallel, had hired Luis Carlos Hernández, one of the sons of the then mayor. The court found that the mayor interceded on his behalf, although the contract was finally annulled due to the scandal that has broken out since then.
Hernández has always defended his innocence. He has alleged that he was unaware that his son Luis Carlos had agreed to a commission in exchange for Vitalogic obtaining the contract. He has also argued that he did not intervene or exert pressure for the company to win the tender. However, the Prosecutor’s Office presented evidentiary material such as screenshots of conversations in which, according to them, it is proven that he did seek to benefit Vitalogic, as well as the existence of meetings between the then mayor and the heads of the company.
The engineer spoke out about his conviction and, through his X account, reiterated that he is innocent and described his sentence as “unfair.” “It is convenient for the detractors to show me as corrupt, to make me equal to the mousetrap that has governed and governs Colombia, nothing ever happens to them. “I never stole a peso, I never had undue interest, I will go to all judicial instances to prove my innocence.”
In addition, he made reference to his anti-corruption speech, which has been a flagship of his short political career. “Colombia cannot stop dreaming of kicking out the thieves who continue to govern us today, we have a rich country with a poor people, because of the bandit politicians,” he wrote.
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Apart from the hearing in which the conviction was revealed, in March, the country went around because, before the judge handed down the sentence, the engineer burst into tears and referred to his state of health. “I have terminal cancer. “I thought about everything, except ending up prosecuted for things that I didn’t do.” In the middle of the proceedings, he thanked the judge for allowing him to be treated by a doctor.
A short political life
Hernández, a 78-year-old millionaire construction businessman, who has dedicated his life to business and companies, did not have a long political career. With decades of relationships with local politicians as a public contractor, and after a brief stint on the council of his native Piedecuesta in his youth, he returned to the electoral fray for the mayor of Bucaramanga in 2015, as a outsider opponent of that local political class. As mayor, he stood out for his direct connection with citizens, largely via social networks, his clashes with local politicians—including the famous slap he gave to opposition councilor John Claros in a live Facebook video—and strict management of the finances of the fifth city of Colombia. Thanks to this, he came out with 85% popularity among citizens and managed to leave a successor in office.
That drive and that way of doing politics far from traditional structures led him in 2021 to project his presidential candidacy, which at the beginning of the campaign barely reached 3% of voting intention, concentrated in his native Santander. This unknown to the country ended up hot on the heels of the current head of state and winning the place in the second round against better-known politicians, such as the current mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, or the former governor of Antioquia, Sergio Fajardo.
In the second round, the Colombian right, the unions and a part of the alternative sector supported Hernández. With the anti-politician image and anti-corruption flags, he won the trust of 10.5 million voters in the presidential second round, narrowly missing victory by just 700,000 votes. Two years later, after a brief stint in the Senate of the Republic, today he is another politician who ends up convicted of corruption.
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