Colombian president confirms ousting of Bogota mayor

[Judi Lynn]

4. For what it's worth, from the NY Times, 4 days ago:

In Colombia, Two Warring Officials Provide a Portrait of a Nation’s Political Divide
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
MARCH 15, 2014

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The political battle royale playing out between the mayor of Bogotá and the country’s powerful inspector general, who ordered him removed from office, has been compared to a Latin soap opera. But as it drags on, it more closely resembles an absurdist drama in which two actors alternately fascinate and irritate their audience with squabbling, philosophizing and the occasional kick in the pants.

The conflict has captivated the nation since the inspector general, Alejandro Ordóñez, ruled in December that the mayor, Gustavo Petro, had violated the law in 2012 by switching Bogotá’s garbage collection from private companies to a city-run service.

Mr. Ordóñez determined that Mr. Petro’s transgressions — he was also accused of mismanaging the handover — were so serious that he should lose his job and be barred from public office for 15 years. The punishment seemed excessive to enough citizens that it provoked widespread sympathy for the mayor, who called supporters into the streets to protest, then urged them to flood the courts with petitions to keep him in his job.



Mayor Gustavo Petro.
Credit Meridith Kohut for
The New York Times

Coming as the national government is seeking a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the guerrillas who have fought the government for 50 years, the altercation in Bogotá has taken on added significance because it pits icons of the left and right against each other.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/world/americas/in-colombia-two-warring-officials-provide-a-portrait-of-a-nations-political-divide.html

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It's a real shame.

Hope Petro will come up with another way to challenge this conspicuously political act against the left in Colombia.