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Weekly Report - 16 January 2014 (WR-14-02)

COLOMBIA: Petro dismissal takes new twist

The fate of the leftist mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, is in the balance. Petro appealed to tens of thousands of supporters who gathered outside city hall on 10 January to stage “the largest protest in Bogotá’s history on the day the prosecutor general ratifies his arbitrary decision”. This “arbitrary decision” was Petro’s dismissal on 9 December for mismanaging the capital’s refuse collection. It was promptly ratified on 13 January after the prosecutor general’s office rejected an appeal by Petro. The very next day, however, a local judge temporarily suspended the ruling. Petro and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) maintain that his dismissal threatens the peace process. They have called on President Juan Manuel Santos to override the decision to show that demobilised guerrillas like Petro can compete on a level playing field.

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