Life is slipping away from Rodolfo Hernández.
The septuagenarian engineer, who was Gustavo Petro's rival in the second round of the last presidential elections after running a hearty campaign, burst into tears during the virtual hearing in which the Colombian justice system defined whether it would convict him for corruption crimes.
After taking the floor and thanking the judge for allowing him to be treated by a doctor, which led to delaying the procedure, his voice broke and his expression anticipated the painful revelation.
“I have terminal cancer.
I thought about everything, except ending up prosecuted for things that I didn't do.”
After a brief recess, the judge read the decision: the Santander politician was found guilty.
The decision is of first instance and can be appealed.
#Santander |
"I have terminal cancer": Rodolfo Hernández, in tears, during the hearing where he testified in the Vitalogic case.
The procedure was suspended and will resume at 3:05 in the afternoon.
pic.twitter.com/BFh2J1L4IY
— W Radio Colombia (@WRadioColombia) March 14, 2024
The events for which he is convicted date back to his time as mayor of Bucaramanga, the capital of the department of Santander, between 2016 and 2019. His Administration opened a tender to choose a consultant in charge of evaluating the viability of converting the city's garbage in energy.
Among those interested was Vitalogic, a company dedicated to solid waste management.
The company had entered into an agreement with one of Hernández's sons, Luis Carlos, as a lobbyist, and had agreed to give him a commission if he obtained the business.
Since then, the former mayor denies that he was aware of his son's actions.
He has also argued that he did not exert any pressure for Vitalogic to benefit, but the evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office, including screenshots of WhatsApp conversations, convinced the judge.
In the coming days the penalty that will be imposed on the engineer will be known.
Hernández, who had made a career as a businessman and state contractor, became mayor after winning elections in which his candidacy seemed unviable.
Even he did not trust his chances and traveled abroad before the results were known.
He found out about the win a day later.
It didn't take long for his popularity to take off.
Thanks to his radical anti-corruption speech and his unusual self-confidence, which contrasted with the ways of traditional political leaders, he attracted the attention of public opinion.
Excusing himself as
an outsider
outside power—not entirely true because he financed electoral aspirations before becoming mayor and had been close to the local political class for decades—he made multiple outbursts.
Paradoxically, he always landed standing.
His fan base increased even though cameras recorded him questioning firefighters for being “fat, lazy and pot-bellied”;
promising illegal transporters to “play dumb and not send them to the Police”;
and even slapping an opposition councilor on a live broadcast.
His style resembled that of Donald Trump.
Developing...
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