Petrograd — Colombia's new capital?

There is a joke going around Bogotá – although for many it has a modicum of truth – that the Colombian capital is going to be renamed ‘Petrograd’. 

It’s all to do with the city’s mayor, Gustavo Petro and is a reference to the many Russian cities that were renamed after political leaders during the USSR communist era.

Mayor Gustavo Petro with trademark flat cap. (Pic. from Mayor's website.)

For those of you in the dark, Petro is a former member of the far-left guerrilla group M-19. Indeed, he did time in the mid-1980s for the illegal possession of arms. 

Now, while those more radical days may be well behind him — his election as mayor perhaps a sign of that — it could be said that ‘you can take the man out of the leftist guerrillas, but you can’t take the leftist guerrilla out of the man.’ Or, the other way to look at it as we'll see is that he’s an opportunist, plain and simple — a wise way to be, perhaps.

You see, while his overall plan for the city, ‘Bogotá Humana’ (Humane Bogotá), may be full of merit, how he’s going about implementing it is a little bit more questionable. No doubt, especially considering his background, he is a visionary — or at least he has an idea of the type of Bogotá/Colombia he’d like to see emerge in the coming years. 

However, it would appear, as is the case with so many elected officials (see ‘Time for change’ http://bit.ly/TLNgLn for more on that point), that he’s now beginning to play the populist card as he positions himself to run, as he unsuccessfully did in 2010, for the country’s presidency in 2014.

Nice buses. But where are all the passengers?

Let’s take the recent roll-out of the integrated public transport system, the SITP. Despite our well-documented ‘love’ for the more chaotic older system of buses currently doing the rounds (see ‘Dulling down Bogotá’ http://bit.ly/XdUg5U), there’s no doubt that, in theory, the integrated system, given proper support, should make commuting in Bogotá far more comfortable for everybody. 

On top of that, the introduction of a modern fleet of, hopefully, cleaner, greener buses coupled with the phasing out of the big old gas guzzlers should do the air quality (well, lack of quality at this moment in time) in the metropolis no end of good.

Now, while it is relatively early days in its introduction — this is, of course, Colombia/Latin America — all the SITP seems to have achieved thus far is the addition of a few more buses to the already chock-a-block Bogotá streets. With those buses carrying very few passengers at that. 

You see it appears that the Petro administration is too fearful to take on the very many private buseta/colectivo operators in the city. They make up a powerful group with many of their employees the type of people the current mayor will be relying on for support in his very likely second presidential assault in less than two years.

For if the powers that be in the city want its inhabitants to start using the new blue/red buses of the currently loss-making SITP, the quickest way to achieve this is to make it the only game in town. So that means taking the busetas/colectivos off the road. The political will to do this seems to be sorely lacking. 

The talk from officialdom is that Bogotanos must adapt and change their habits. But when you have an old system where the buses pick you up and drop you off wherever you want along the route  — i.e. there are no set stops — and you don’t always have to pay the full fare, then getting people to opt out of that without much of a carrot or stick is wishful thinking.

As much of a socialist as Petro may claim to be, the lack of meaningful support he has shown to a publicly run transport system because of a reluctance to upset private operators is a bit of a contradiction to state the least.

Looking for work in Bogotá? Check out the bins.

He is, perhaps, staying closer to his roots on the waste collection issue — though the reasons for this may be far from ideological. 

Here, the four current private operators are facing the axe, with the service due to be passed on to one publicly run company, Acueducto, which is responsible for water in the city. 

For many locals, this is a jobs-for-the-boys style move from the Petro administration. The whole plan seems ill-thought-out and highly questionable. To this end, it has more than raised eyebrows at national level, with President Juan Manuel Santos’s administration at loggerheads with Petro over the issue. 

Indeed, the national government may yet pull the plug on the scheme, which is due to get up and running on 18 December. Such a public bloody nose for Mayor Petro could have its benefits, though, selling it to the masses as national interference in his goal to clean up Bogotá — a rallying cry to bolster support.

The new water charges are not without controversy either. Whatever about making those who earn more, pay more, to let a large, densely-populated area of the city off without any charges at all could be seen as populist. 

The richest three strata in the city will have to pay for water usage once it goes over a certain prescribed amount. For the remaining three strata, there will be no water consumption charges at all. 

The thought of having to fork out for excessive water use can be an important motivation to conserve, though. Education can go so far, but people tend to learn more quickly when it hits them in the pocket.

In Petrograd, however, it’s best to keep the masses onside. Perhaps that’s the best way to play it, for now.