Last week, the issue hit the news again when police pulled over Senator Eduardo Carlos Merlano for apparently driving drunk.
"Do you know who I am?" the senator demanded of the police officers, and then refused to take the alcohol blood level test.
The scandal was later compounded by a leaked recording in which a police commander criticized the police officer for trying to test the senator. "Out of millions of Colombians, we've selected just a hundred to write out laws," the commander pointed out.
And, apparently, some of those 100 politicians consider themselves above the law. Merlano - who it turned out was also driving without a license - afterwards asserted that he hadn't been drunk and had a right to refuse to take the alcohol test.
Coincidentally, just yesterday a bill which would have required jail time for drunk drivers died in Congress. The bill failed to pass by a single vote. More than 70 senators failed to appear to vote at all, perhaps taking a long lunch lubricated by aguardiente.
Every year, drunk drivers kill more than 5,000 people in Colombia.
Poor Sen. Merlano, meanwhile, has been told by his doctor to take a couple of days off of work to relax from all the stress he's suffered.
At last word, Sen. Merlano hadn't expressed an opinion about the anti-drunk driving legislation.
By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours
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