The acting mayor of Bogota considered banning the sale of alcohol within 650 feet of schools and educational buildings after banning all liquor sales after 11PM in June.
Interim Mayor Clara Lopez proposed banning the sale of liquor around schools, colleges, and universities between 10AM and 5 or 6PM. Liquor sales are currently prohibited in most facilities in Bogota from 11PM to 10AM.
Lopez said the measure is needed to combat teen alcoholism and claimed that the previous ban had already been successful.
“Verified success and impact has been so favorable for the ban on liquor after 11PM, we think that the second step has to be something similar in the daylight hours around the schools and universities, because that way we defend two fundamental rights, we defend the right to life and the right to education of our youth and adolescents.”
Lopez admitted that it would be difficult to push her proposal through the city council.
Guillermo Botero, the president of Colombia’s merchant association Fenalco, warned that Lopez’s proposal would be “punitive” and “would mean the ruin of merchants.” Fenalco has estimated that Bogota businesses have already lost at least $1.2 million to the night-time ban.
The acting mayor also stated that about 80,000 Bogota stores have tried to convert themselves to bars so that they can continue selling liquor at night.