In "Tangled Legs," what does the recitation of the poem imply about the Colonel's identity, and how is this implication confirmed?

The section of poem that the gauchos recite is from "El Gaucho Martín Fierro," and this implies that the Colonel's name, Hernández, refers to the real-life author of the Argentine epic. This guess is confirmed when the Colonel discusses the circumstances under which he wrote the poem.