Bogotá's Mayor: Organized Crime 'Is Not Something You Can Change With Just Social Work'

The first year of Enrique Peñalosa’s second term as mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, has been riddled with controversy almost from the moment it began. The unpopularity of his plans to urbanize a natural reserve, his privatization of the public energy company ETB, and his changes to the city’s plans to build an elevated metro system have earned him lower approval ratings than his (rather unpopular) predecessor Gustavo Petro.

But the mayor on Monday defended one of his most important (and oft-criticized) measures at the CityLab 2016 conference in Miami: his crackdown on organized crime in the city, which is responsible for much of Bogotá’s violent street crime. Earlier this year, Peñalosa ordered a heavily armed raid and later the demolition of the “Bronx,” one of the city’s most crime-and-drug-infested neighborhoods. More than 1,000 people were removed, most of them homeless and addicted to drugs. Many of these people ended up in other neighborhoods, where citizens complained about their presence and about Peñalosa’s strategy. A rival political faction has also brought a lawsuit against the mayor because of the raids, accusing him of human rights abuses.