Former Partido de la U Senator Gina Parody, who resigned in protest at former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s administration, will announce her candidacy for mayor of Bogota at 3:00 PM Monday, according to El Espectador.
Parody’s political history includes a term in Congress from 2002 to 2006 under the Uribe administration as well as a Senate term starting in 2006 that was cut short in 2009 when the official resigned her seat because of political disagreements with the Alvaro Uribe government.
Parody’s resignation centered around her objections to Uribe’s intention to run for a third term as President, as well as her perception that the former government had been permeated by paramilitary groups.
In her current campaign, Parody says she wants to break with traditional politics. She is not running on a party platform and therefore is forced to cover election expenses by mortgaging her $150,000 apartment. She will need to submit 50,000 valid signatures in order to qualify to run for Colombia’s second most important political position.
The former senator with a master’s degree in urbanization from Harvard, plans on impoving the city’s education system and reformulating urban development initiatives — a change Bogota desperately needs after a multitude of un-finished construction projects have left the city in disarray.
Security is another issue which Parody aims to improve if she is elected, saying that “You know how many police watch over 7 million bogotanos right now? 5,500 auxiliaries and 3,000 professional police … this is one policeman per 870 people. We must organize Bogota.”
“One month ago cell phone operators promised measures to prevent stolen cell phone activation. Nothing has happened,” said the hopeful candidate in an earlier interview with El Espectador, before explaining that “Every day they rob between 700 and 900 cell phones in Bogota … Yesterday [Thursday May 13] it cost the life of a Chaplain at the University of Minuto de Dios.”
The former senator will announce her candidacy just weeks after current Bogota Mayor Samuel Moreno was suspended by the inspector general for his suspected involvement in a corruption scandal that awarded public works contracts to the Nule Group in exchange for a commission.
Parody will present a “Manual of Transparency,” which aims to close the cracks in policy that have allowed companies and politicians to get enrich themselves with money intended to improve public infrastructure.
The ex-senator will make a formal announcement of her candidacy at 3:00 PM in the Bonanza sector of the Engativa locality in the north of the capital.