Mayoral Chaos

Bogotá ex-Mayor Gustavo Petro

Gustavo Petro's sudden exit from Bogotá's City Hall bodes ill for the city, for the peace negotiations and for political peace generally.

On the one hand, Petro's ouster by Inspector General Ordoñez's order will mean four mayors for Bogotá in three years, including Petro's predecesor Samuel Moreno, who is in prison now facing corruption charges, Clara Lopez, the placeholder appointed to succeed him, Petro himself, and the placeholder mayor whom Pres. Santos will appoint to hold the office until elections are held. And then, of course, will come whoever wins the special election - making five mayors since Moreno's ouster in May 2011.

All that makes the Colombian capital look exactly like what Colombia's trying hard not to be: an unstable, corruption-plagued Third World city lacking any sort of rational development plan. The possibility that the next mayor elected could be a conservative such as Francisco Santos, who was vice president under Pres. Alvaro Uribe (and is Pres. Santos's cousin), creates the prospect of the city's policies veering across ideologies. Forget continuity of policies or projects.

As far as the peace negotiations between the FARC and government taking place in Havana, the ouster of

Bogotá's previous elected mayor,
Samuel Moreno, who is now in prison.

Petro, a one-time leader of the M-19 guerrillas, on questionable grounds (for allegedly mishandling garbage collection) by an arch-conservative official will make FARC leaders ask, validly, whether they will receive fair treatment and have a role in government if they sign a peace deal. (Whther or not murderers like the FARC deserve a political role is a separate issue.)

Finally, Petro's ouster in this questionable manner will make him a martyr for his supporters and leave lots of resentment. It would have been much healthier for the city to have postponed the ouster and allowed the recall election, scheduled for early May, to have gone ahead. Stand or fall, Petro's fate would be decided by Bogota's citizens, leaving a sensation of closure and fairness.

Add to that the very real possibility that an enraged and embittered Gustavo Petro will start campaigning against the system by promoting the nihilist 'voto en blanco.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Go Straight to Prison, Without Passing Go

Work on Calle 26, east of Carrera 7. Scandal around this project has Mayor Samuel Moreno behind bars.

Bogotá's suspended mayor Samuel Rojas Moreno went to prison today, where he'll await his trial on corruption charges for allegedly receiving kickbacks for Bogotá publics works projects.

The judge evidently decided that the evidence against the mayor was strong and that Moreno posed a risk of flight - he also holds United States citizenship.

The mayor got elected on a smile and a promise to build a subway line. Bogotá still has no metro and the two Transmilenio lines under construction are way behind schedule and over budget. But, in the picture on El Tiempo's website today, Moreno's still smiling.

A bus belches fumes. Municipal
environmental officials can't see this. 

Bogotanos will remember the Moreno administration as a time of corruption, frustration and terrible traffic congestion. While the Transmilenio expansion was necessary, it certainly could have been handled much better.

Not smiling now. Today's news headlines. 

In addition to the mismanagement and alleged corruption, Moreno should also be remembered for having let Bogotá's laws go lax. During the Moreno years we've seen public space invaded by cars and street vendors, pollution go uncontrolled and traffic laws unenforced. Perhaps that is Moreno's worst offense.

A city council candidate from Moreno's Polo Democratico party, which has apologized  for the Moreno  fiasco.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Corruption Carrousel

Samuel and Ivan have seen better days. 

The other shoe dropped today as Bogotá Mayor Samuel Moreno was suspended from office because of allegations of corruption and mismanagement in public works projects. The mayor's younger brother Ivan, a senator, was arrested the other day because of the same scandal, so the two might soon be repeating those great days of childhood by sharing a bedroom. 

And yesterday authorities arrested many government officials for an alleged corruption scheme in public health services - functionaries created bills for non-existed services and pocketed the money.

The bad part is that officials are committing fraud, believing that they can get away with it. The positive part is that some of them are actually getting caught.

Mayor Moreno was unapologetic. In a speech today he boasted about his administration's accomplishments. Certainly, Moreno's carried forward public works which needed to be done - but they should have been done cleanly and efficiently.

Despite everything, this was the scene this afternoon near the National University. Evidently, Bogotá's young male population prioritized other interests, like the Real Madrid-Barcelona game.

It reminded me of my first crazy days in Caracas, Venezuela, when I was working as a journalist. I'd moved to the city just two few weeks before, had a malfunctioning laptop, no home internet connection and no friends in the city when a coup overthrew President Hugo Chavez.

Most of the city went into lockdown and I raced about desperately in search of an open internet cafe from which to file the biggest stories of my journalistic career. Finally, I found one and began typing furiously while on the television on the wall the coup leaders, a group of business and military men, were announcing the country's fate. Meanwhile, all around me, kids, oblivious and uninterested in their nation's fate, were playing video games and sending text messages.

An employee tapped my shoulder. "Would you mind changing machines?" he asked me. "Then you can continue chatting."

Chatting??!!! I thought. "I'm recording history!"

After about 48 hours, the coup fell apart and Chavez was swept back into power generating about 72 hours of frantic journalism. On the third day, I was back in the internet cafe racing against deadline to file another story when an employee tapped me on the shoulder again. "I have to ask you to leave," he said sternly.

"Why????!!!" I asked, in desperation.

I hadn't bathed in four days, and was driving out their game-playing customers. Fortunately, I found a less sensitive internet place across the street.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

How Far (and Fast) They Fall!

The Nule cousins - not standing so tall anymore. (Photo: Semana.com)

A year ago, the Nules headed an important corporation which was carrying out part of Bogotá's most important infrastructure project: building a Transmilenio express bus line to the airport.

Ivan Moreno on his way to jail.  (Photo: El Pais)

Today, the three Nule cousins who ran the business are in prison, the result of an expanding scandal over alleged kickbacks paid to politicians. One of those who allegedly received kickbacks was Senator Ivan Moreno, one-time Vice-Minister of health and later Minister of Labor, and who also happens to be the little brother of Bogotá Mayor Samuel Moreno. Yesterday, Ivan Moreno was arrested, too, and is now residing in his own jail cell.

El Dorado Ave: the canyon which swallowed the Nules and Morenos.

Counterattack on the Palace.

In 1985  General Jesús Armando Arias Cabrales became a national hero for commanding the retaking of the Justice Palace from the M-19 guerrillas. Today, Armando Arias was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the forced disappearance of a cafeteria employee and a guerrilla who disappeared during the military's counterattack. He is the second military official convicted for human rights violations committed during the retaking of the palace. Others are slated for trial.

Escaping from the Justice Palace. Some of those who came out alive were later found dead.

Sidewalk plaque in memorium to those 'disappeared' in the Justice Palace episode.

Of course, there is a huge irony in the palace episode: a few years after the attack, the M-19 guerrillas demobilized and turned into a political party and today some of the M-19's ex-leaders are in Congress, directly across Plaza Bolívar from the Justice Plaza.

And, in Colombia's highly inbred politics, these two very different episodes have surprising connections. For one, the ex-M-19 guerrillas belong to Morenos' political party, the Polo Democratico Alternativo. And the M-19 was born out of alleged fraud against Colombian-dictator-turned-presidential-candidate Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, who happens to be the Moreno brothers' grandfather.  

These stories are far from finished. One matter is the issue of prison conditions: there've been scandals recently about the pampered conditions in at least one military prison. And the Nules' prison accomodations also caused a stir: the three of them have their own private in-prison house, each with his own bedroom and bath, as well as common areas. That's not only far better than the way ordinary prisoners live, but luxurious compared to the housing of many Colombians outside prison.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Contracts Carousel

26th Street excavations - a bottomless pit for the city government?

Mayor Moreno in happier days. 

Bogotá's ongoing corruption scandal involving the Transmilenio expansion keeps getting worse for Mayor Samuel Moreno, his administration and his brother Ivan. Today, one of the Nule brothers, whose company had been issued the contract for expanding Transmilenio on 26th St. to the airport, told reporters that both Mayor Moreno and his brother Ivan, a senator, had demanded payments for city contracts. The Nules are now in Florida, but promise that they'll return to face any charges in court. Let's cross our fingers. The Morenos deny the charges.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have siezed the mayor's income and filed charges against several other officials.

Sen. Ivan Moreno has something to say. (Photo: El Colombiano)

The scandal has torn apart the leftist Polo Democratico party, depriving Colombia of an important political counterweight to the dominant conservative parties. And it's undermined citizens' confidence in their represantives.

The only positive here? That the scandal's come out, and the legal system is acting.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Beleaguered Mayor

Samuel Moreno Rojas won Bogotá's mayor's office in 2007 on the strength of a smile and a promise - to build a subway system.

Three years later, the subway is still uncertain and bogotanos are complaining about the terrible traffic jams contributed to by way-behind-schedule work on Transmilenio lines on Carrera 10 and 26th St. (which goes to the airport).

El Dorado Avenue; All dug up as far as the eye can see.

There've been lots of allegations of involvement by the mayor and a relative in cost overruns by the Nule clan, who had the original contract for the Transmilenio line to the airport. As a result, authorities recently seized the mayor's income and assets. Predictably, his approval rating was recently pegged at 18%. But Moreno's refused to resign.

But, for all the possible corruption and bad planning involved in these road projects, they had to be done, and so it's partially unfair for Moreno to get all of the flack. Perhaps, when the projects finally get wrapped up - and if Moreno stays out of prison - he'll be remembered positively for moving the city ahead - albeit painfully.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

The Polo Demoractico Self Destructs

Samuel Moreno got elected mayor of Bogotá in 2007 on a smile and a promise to improve the city's transit system. Today, most bogotanos appear to regret their decision, as fear of crime has increased and the Transmilenio expansion strangles the city's traffic and its progress lags amidst accusations of corruption and mismanagement.

Unfortunately for Colombian politics, Mayor Moreno's slumping fortunes may sink his party with him. Once upon a time, Colombia had two dominant political parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, who traded power back and forth in a semi-authoritarian system. Today, they are only two amongst many parties in a mostly conservative political landscape. So, the left-wing Polo Democratico has served as an important counterweight to the conservative-dominated presidency. If the Polo self destructs amidst accusations between the Polo's leaders it will mean a real loss for Colombia's democracy.

By Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours