Colombia’s new senate session, which began this month with 102 members, includes a notably unconventional figure: Luis Carlos Rúa, who took the oath of office in a full white elephant costume. Known by his activist persona Elefante Blanco ("White Elephant"), Rúa has gained national attention for exposing neglected and mismanaged public infrastructure projects across the country.
Rúa, 34, ran a largely anonymous campaign, revealing his identity only three days before the election. His use of the elephant costume symbolizes the term "white elephant," referring to expensive but abandoned or incomplete public works. For five years prior to his election, Rúa documented dilapidated roads, stalled construction sites, and other public project failures through videos posted on social media, amassing a substantial following and around 124,000 votes in the election.
His political emergence reflects growing public discontent with traditional parties. According to political analyst Gabriel Cifuentes, Rúa’s success underscores both the rising role of social media in shaping Colombia’s political landscape and a broader distrust toward established political actors.
The Elefante Blanco character originated in 2019 while Rúa worked in Pereira’s mayoral office. After exposing attempts to pressure employees into electoral support and receiving death threats, he relocated to Medellín, where he continued his activism anonymously. He commissioned the costume to maintain his anonymity and posted his first video in late 2021 on an unfinished road. Since then, his investigations have covered bridges, schools, tunnels, and hospitals left incomplete or in disrepair.
Despite challenges, including the physical discomfort of wearing the suit and the financial strain of funding his own investigations through freelance work, merchandise sales, and crowdfunding, Rúa decided to seek office to sustain his oversight efforts. As a senator, he plans to propose legislation requiring municipalities to allocate budgets specifically for road maintenance, a measure inspired by the death of his father, Darío Rúa, who died in 2024 after falling on a pothole.
Rúa identifies himself as politically independent, having cast a blank vote in the recent presidential runoff won by far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. He has faced criticism for supporting De la Espriella’s proposal to move the presidential inauguration from Bogotá to Cali, a decision opponents argue contradicts his anti-waste activism. Rúa defended the vote, citing a desire to demonstrate state presence in historically neglected regions and claiming the change would be less costly than the previous inauguration.
Looking ahead, Rúa intends to attend official events in his Elefante Blanco costume and maintain his role as a vigilant political watchdog regardless of which party holds power. His unconventional approach marks a distinctive chapter in Colombian politics, blending grassroots activism with formal governance.