Controversial Venezuelan spin-doctor J.J. Rendon, who advised President-elect Juan Manuel Santos during his campaign, denied on Friday that hefought a “dirty war” against rival Green Party presidential candidate Antanas Mockus.
“It was always a policy to not attack Mockus… because it is not good to attack a person like Mockus … There was never a dirty campaign launched by the Partido de la U campaign team,” Rendon said.
According to Rendon, who joined Santos’ campaign team after the “Uribista” candidate began slipping in the polls in the weeks leading up to May’s first-round presidential election, Mockus’ campaign failed to plan adequately and they spent too much time attacking Rendon’s affiliation with Santos.
“They had no strategy … They were not able to turn [Mockus’] internet popularity into real votes … [and] they lost a lot of time attacking me,” the Venezuelan claimed.
Rendon’s criticism of the Mockus campaign backs comments made by El Espectador political analyst Camilo Rojas following the June 20 second-round election, when he said that Mockus “had no strategy … no way of managing the campaign.”
During the campaign, Mockus criticized Santos for using dirty tricks organized by Rendon, and accused him of spreading false rumors, which Santos denied.
In May, Colombian political analysis website La Silla Vacia revealed several “dirty tricks” engaged in by the Partido de la U campaign, mainly in its Internet strategy, involving comments by false Santos supporters on Internet message boards.