The Strange Saga of the Ousted Mayor of Bogotá

Bogotá is an urban policy "miracle," moving from failure to case study in just 20 years. The Colombian capital has become known internationally for it innovative municipal initiatives prioritizing civic culture, public transportation, public spaces, and creative social programs. Bogotá's transformation has been led by strong figures like former Mayor Antanas Mockus, who mooned a university auditorium and invented traffic mimes and "violence vaccines." His successor, Enrique Peñalosa, is a public transportation champion who created the one of the world's largest Bus Rapid Transit systems.

So it's a strange state of affairs indeed that current Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro received a political "death sentence" last week: impeachment, courtesy Colombia Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez, and a 15-year ban on holding public office after he botched the roll-out of an overhauled trash collection scheme that allegedly violated the country's commerce regulations.