In January of this year a bomb was detonated outside a Blockbuster franchise in northern Bogota killing two people and with this explosion Bogota’s debatable façade of that of a secure city was destroyed.
Citizens, opposition politicians, tourists and even the Bogota Chamber of Commerce have all expressed their concerns over the current state of the city.
The FARC Strike Back
With protests over new transit laws, rising indices of violent crime, rampant pollution and the altogether more sinister events of the recent FARC attacks, Colombia’s capital city, often referred to as the Athens of South America for its polite and well educated citizenry, is rapidly returning to the dark old days of the 1980s and early 1990s.
It was in this era that street crime was rampant and Bogotanos rushed from home to work and back again happy to return to their secure compounds and think twice about going out after dark.
Bogota Safer than Madrid?
The greatest tragedy of all is that only two years ago the President of ANATO (the Colombian Association of Travel Agents) boldly declared that statistically “Bogota was safer than Madrid.”
How times have changed.
A recent survey was taken by the Bogota Chamber of Commerce of 7,174 citizens of the city from varying backgrounds, districts and social strata between June 2008 and December. Findings revealed that the percentage of those that believed the security situation in the city to have worsened rose from 39 per cent to 55 per cent. Alarmingly homicides also increased in this period by 4 percent from 1,401 to 1,459.
Tourism Damaged in La Candelaria
Perhaps more worrying for Mayor Samuel Moreno, is that one of the areas worst affected is that of the colonial Candelaria district. Tourism is obviously a vital source of income for Bogota and the Candelaria is home to ornate theatres, colonial streets, museums and a large number of reasonably priced accommodations for tourists.
The critics are being merciless in their scathing remarks of the Mayor. City Councillor Javier Palacio Mejia said: “Currently the city is experiencing one of its worst moments in terms of security. Our streets are becoming constant traps where we can no longer guarantee the integrity of our citizens.”
In addition to protests and displeasure with the Mayor, the very real spectre of FARC – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who have been fighting the state of 50 years – staging attacks in the city shows that the armed group is bringing its fight back into urban areas after several high profile setbacks.
For the time-being nothing has changed; the city waits for some sort political and visible action.
 |
