Mixup: Colombia Presidential Candidate Says Mistook Hitler For Einstein

i24 News – Rodolfo Hernandez, a candidate in Colombia’s presidential election, said he confused Adolf Hitler with Albert Einstein in an interview last year in which he praised the late Nazi leader.

A former mayor of Bucaramanga, Hernandez became infamous on the Tik Tok and for offensive speech on other social media platforms. In last year’s radio interview, he called himself a “follower of a great German thinker named Adolf Hitler.”

He later explained he was referring to the renowned physicist Albert Einstein and was not a fan of the Nazi dictator, according to The Times of Israel.

Hernandez, who focused his campaign on criticizing corruption and poverty in Colombia, surprised political analysts by taking second place in the first round of the presidential election on May 29. The 77-year-old businessman could become Colombia’s next leader this Sunday if he beats his rival Gustavo Petro, who was earlier seen as a frontrunner in the election and the country’s first possible leftist president.

Colombia is currently facing one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world. The country’s economy was hit hard by the Covid pandemic, which left thousands of Colombians unemployed and prompted nationwide anti-poverty protests.

In 2021, Colombia’s President Ivan Duque had to apologize after cadets at a police academy caused outrage by dressing up as Nazis for a “cultural exchange” event in honor of Germany.