Federico Gutiérrez lost and with him the political project that has governed Colombia in recent history sinks.
The machinery of the traditional parties that supported him was not enough and he has suffered the worst of all defeats.
Rodolfo Hernández, a 77-year-old engineer, former mayor of Bucaramanga, populist and foul-mouthed, snatched second place.
Fico, as everyone knows him, has fallen out of contention.
It is a failure for him, who was running for the first time in a presidential election, and for the establishment that clung to his candidacy as the only option to stop leftist Gustavo Petro from passing.
Gutiérrez, the former mayor of Medellín who managed to rank second in voting intentions after the inter-party elections last March, soon reached a ceiling and stagnated.
The data left him behind Petro, but very close to him, Hernández appeared, who ended up elbowing him and taking him out of the way towards the Casa de Nariño.
Fico Gutiérrez did everything he could to try to show that he was not the candidate for continuity, that "he was not Uribe's."
The former president also did his part so as not to harm him.
Aware of his worn-out image, due to his mess with the law and a speech about security and a "hard hand against terrorism" in a country that has already overcome the war, for the first time in two decades he was marginalized. of the political scene.
But he did not reach them.
The 47-year-old Fico's campaign started well, but it got complicated along the way.
The former mayor of Medellín, who ended his government with a popularity of 85%, trusted that his charisma and his moderate speech would allow him to approach the center and the young people, but nothing worked for him.
In the last week, his competition was no longer Petro, but Hernández, who, without locating himself on either side, took the votes of the undecided, but especially of those who say they are fed up with "petrismo and uribismo."
The scope of Hernández's political phenomenon was measured this Sunday and surprisingly surpassed the machinery, which promised to move in favor of Gutiérrez in these elections.
Fico had the misfortune of running with the support of the traditional parties and those who have held power, just when, as never before, Colombian society has shown a deep rejection of the old ways of doing politics.
The protests that have shaken the Government of Iván Duque since 2019 have been a sign of that desire for change and the former mayor of Medellín has paid for the broken dishes of an unpopular management of the current president.
"I am me," he said until the last moment.
Faced with any accusation from his opponents, Gutiérrez had a way to defend himself.
His name appears without a single mess with the justice system, he is conciliatory, he has promised to move forward with the peace process with the FARC, he has questioned the Duque government, he has put on tennis shoes and bracelets, he tried to take advantage of the fact that he was a new face outside his region, Antioquia, but it did not reach him.
The weariness of the Colombians has been greater and his defeat is an example of it.
Petro's victory this Sunday is a disaster for the men who have historically held power in Colombia.
Former presidents Uribe, Gaviria, Pastrana have left, at least for now, through the back door of national politics.
Gutiérrez played to appear alien to the establishment with his speech, but also with symbolic events, such as the appointment of Rodrigo Lara Sánchez as his vice-presidential formula.
A former mayor of a small town, who belonged to the row of the green, son of a Minister of Justice assassinated by orders of Pablo Escobar in the eighties.
He didn't reach her either.
"We are going to represent the regions, our political bosses are the people," said Gutiérrez, when he introduced Lara Sánchez, as a bet to get rid of any political overtones.
Federico Gutiérrez failed, despite having in his favor everything that in the past would have assured him the presidency.
He suffered the weight of years of governments that have not addressed social demands and a society that says enough is enough.