Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 16 March 2017

In Colombia, chaotic capital gets lesson in ‘coexistence’

CHRISTINE ARMARIO lowest-level offenses such ferent daily problems than divisive process of reconcili- tween green mountains
Associated Press as not offering a pregnant in decades past, when the ation that has polarized the is a study in contrasts:
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) woman use of a bathroom country was still steeped nation. Generous, tree-lined bike
— Colombians are getting first are punishable with $30 in a violent conflict with il- “This code becomes a tool lanes and parks are next
a lesson in manners in the fines, the most severe carry legal armed groups. As se- for the stability of peace,” to streets crammed with
form of a strict 120-page a $262 penalty — about rious offenses like kidnap- Palacio said. buses emitting plumes of
civil code, and nowhere is it black exhaust. World-class
causing more angst than in museums overlook streets
the country’s frenetic capi- filled with litter and vendors
tal where jugglers and soda offering llama rides. Quiet
vendors snake through traf- Saturday mornings are bro-
fic, party buses throb into ken by the sound of trucks
the night and street chaos with megaphones offering
reigns. used books and dragon
Playing loud music late at fruit.
night is now punishable “Colombians always say:
with a $125 fine. Not pick- ‘People don’t know how
ing up dog poop: $30. to behave. They need to
Turnstile jumpers on public be educated,’” said Hugo
buses are being sent to a Acero, a security expert in
“coexistence course.” Bogota.
“The code is a confirma- Some 30,000 infractions
tion of the failure of family were registered across the
and school in the correct country in the first month,
education of Colombi- compared to 45,000 for all
ans,” writer Alonso Sanchez of 2015 under the old code,
opined in Semana, the Palacio said.
country’s most prominent The new reality has many
newsweekly. on guard, including soccer
The new rules, which are A man jumps to the boarding area of a public bus station, to evade the fare in Bogota, Colombia, fans wary of fines for petty
being applied across Monday, March, 13, 2017. According to a new civil code applied throughout Colombia filled with offenses like sitting in the
Colombia, are stringent stiff penalties, turnstile jumpers on public buses are being sent to enroll in a “coexistence course.” wrong seat at a stadium or
enough that the mayor of (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) excitedly entering the play-
Barranquilla recently filed ing field.
a decree seeking tempo- equal to the monthly mini- pings have plummeted, Still, since the days of inde- Another group affected is
rary relief after realizing the mum wage. the code’s chief architects pendence, Colombia has pit bull owners, who need
coastal city’s annual carni- Pirated copies of the contend it is time Colombi- been known as a nation of to take out an insurance
val would be violating sev- civil code book are be- ans begin fixing their eyes sophisticated laws and slip- policy for any harm the
eral codes prohibiting noisy ing hawked for about $1 on minor infractions like shod enforcement. Not for dog might cause.
parties. each on the street, where drinking in public and driv- nothing the peace agree- Daniel Bernal is the proud
But the first revision to Co- it has been a steady seller ing in bike lanes that harm ment is a 310-page tome of owner of a red-nosed
lombia’s civil code in more to people anxious to know a peaceful society. elaborate legal arguments American pit bull, one of
than four decades has per- what is now prohibited, “Colombians forgot about that would make any con- 12 breeds considered dan-
haps generated the most and prominent Bogota so- these day-to-day issues,” stitutional magistrate proud gerous under the new civil
debate in Bogota, a city cialites have already found said Capt. Juan David Pa- but has already suffered code. On a recent after-
of 8 million people that au- themselves in gossip col- lacio, a lawyer with the na- numerous delays in imple- noon, he kept the dog
thorities say has received a umns for violating rules. tional police and one of the mentation of its lofty goals. muzzled as he sold bright-
high percentage of the ci- “There are a lot of things authors of the new rules. Bogota is full of creative at- colored handmade leash-
tations registered for all of written in there that people The revised code also tempts at giving a sense of es under a Bogota over-
the country. don’t think should be,” said comes as Colombia is in order. Former Mayor Anta- pass.
Some Bogotanos are qui- Carlos Alvaro, a street ven- the early stages of imple- nas Mockus hired hundreds He said he now takes his pit
etly welcoming the code dor who has sold about 100 menting a peace accord of mimes in the 1990s to bull “Killa” out for long walks
as a needed intervention, copies since late January. reached with the coun- publicly shame traffic viola- and exercise only late at
but others are decrying it The updated civil code try’s largest rebel group tors and jaywalkers. In 2015, night for fear of getting into
as a vast overreach of po- was enacted last July in last year. That timing was the city enlisted actors to try trouble with authorities.
lice power that will do the recognition that Colombia not lost on the rulebook’s to teach manners through One benefit, perhaps: Sales
most hurt to those least is a more urban society to- creators. Palacio said they street performances. of the muzzles he makes
able to pay fines. While the day and afflicted by far dif- took into account the still Today the city tucked be- are going up.q