Mockus's March for Life

March for Life volunteers recently in Bogotá's Parque Nacional.

Antanas Mockus lobbies for his March for Life.

Antanas Mockus, the widely-admired ex-mayor of Bogotá, is organizing a 'March for Life' in Bogotá for Sunday, March 8.

What's there to criticize about that?

Plenty, it turns out, from the perspective of ex-President Alvaro Uribe.

Last month, now-Senator Uribe made known to the world that Mockus's foundation 'Visionarios por March for Life, therefore, was a thinly disguised march in favor of those peace talks.
Colombia' had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts from the government. That meant, Uribe insinuated, that Mockus was in cahoots with Pres. Santos - Uribe's political enemy - in support of the FARC-government peace talks going on in Havana, Cuba.

'They seem to be visionaries, but for the money, someone wrote on Twitter feed.

Uribe is a furious critic of the talks, which he charges will mean impunity for guerrilla leaders.

But what should it matter whether a man organizing a march for life actually supports a peace process? Mockus has never hidden his support for the negotiations, which appear on track to end Colombia's 50-year-old civil conflict.

And Mockus is suffering from Parkinson's disease, which could cut his life short. It would make no sense for him to throw his reputation for honesty and uncorruptibility into the trash for the sake of a single contract.

If you can, join Mockus's March for Life. It can only help.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours