Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro caused quite a stir after telling citizens of Colombia’s capital on Wednesday to “leave their mobile phones at home.”
“You think it’s ok to take your phone out in the street and answer it?” asked Petro. “Because I believe we should make a change in our culture and put a stop to this.”
According to reports, approximately 4,000 cell phones are stolen everyday in Bogota.
Petro’s comments caused an outpour of indignation on news websites and social media. One commentator on Caracol Radio wrote, “w
Rather than lie down and take the bashing, Petro has been busy defending himself on Twitter: “
Scotland Yard sugirió lo mismo a los londinenses que el alcalde Petro a los bogotanos, allá esta bien, aquí mal twitter.com/sergio_serrano…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 28, 2013
Though Petro’s comments were not unprecedented, they received a massive amount of rebukes from his constituency, something not unusual for the embattled mayor. In 2012, his unpopularity rating was north of 60%. In January, Congressman Miguel Gomez even tried to collect enough signatures to oust the mayor from office.
In Colombia in 2011, approximately 490 people died in phone-theft related crimes. The government subsequently implemented new measures to restrict the resale and usage of stolen phones. It is now illegal to sell phones from unauthorized outlets and a blacklist of stolen phones has also been set up.
MORE: Bogota fights ‘scourge’ of phone theft
In October, national and international security agencies like INTERPOL, Scotland Yard, Ameripol, the FBI, along with telecommunications industry representatives, convened in Bogota to come up with a plan to tackle the worldwide scourge.
MORE: Bogota fights ‘scourge’ of phone theft
Petro’s advice was interpreted by some as almost
¡¡No me llamen, que voy a salir a la calle!! #PetroStyle
— Juan Pablo CALVÁS (@colombiascopio) February 27, 2013
- 60% de Bogotaños no aprueba gestion de petro (El Espectador)
- Petro propone que los bogotaños no saquen el celular en la calle para evitar robos (Caracol)
- 314 mobile phones stolen in London every day (BBC)
- Thefts of cell phones rise rapidly nationwide (USA Today)
- Your stolen iPhone might be in China or Africa (Bloomberg)
- Mobile phone users warned of increase in thefts (RTÉ)
- 19,000 items lost every year by New York subway and bus users (Micro-trax)