Claudia López spoke of everything: her management in the Mayor’s Office; the Bogota forecast in 2021; his relationship with Petro, Duque and Galán; and its political place for 2022

2020 has not been easy for the government of Claudia López Hernández in Bogotá. First, the coronavirus put the capital’s health system ‘in check’, to which she, together with her cabinet had to “redouble” efforts; at the time, Bogotá’s first mayor faced criticism, controversy, and boos by some of the capital, his political detractors such as Gustavo Petro, Enrique Peñalosa, Carlos Fernando Galán and even, on some occasions, with the President of the Republic, Iván Duque. In dialogue with Semana Magazine, The president referred to these and other situations that she has faced in her first year in the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá.

Finally what happened to the crowds

One of the recent controversies that López Hernández faced It was the crowds in a park in Ciudad Bolívar for an event that she herself would have called. In her interview with Semana, the president assured that she did not call any event “What we were going to do was light up Christmas,” he said. Also, says that they did not have the idea that agglomeration would be generated, but rather because of a waste of “humility, love and emotion”, the children and residents of the sector approached, which caused the situation. However, López said that “It was a bit chaotic” and given all the controversy that was generated “it is a lesson learned.”

On the other hand, Yesid Lancheros, the Semana journalist who interviewed the mayor, asked her about the recent agglomerations in the “early morning” of San Victorino. The mayor ‘passed the buck’ to the administrations of the shopping centers and said that “San Victorino, like any shopping center, has to answer for the logistics and biosecurity organization.” However, she emphasized that she and her team work hard to make “Logistics agreements” and thus avoid situations like those that were registered in social networks a few days ago.

López once again reminded the merchants of the Center that if they do not respect the biosecurity regulations and do not avoid the crowds, “there is no more early morning.” In addition, she categorically expressed that she is not responsible for “organizing San Victorino, which is private, its security and logistics.”

The pandemic in Bogotá: vaccination, quarantines, etc.

When the president was asked when the vaccination against COVID-19 would begin in the capital, she said that everything depends on the Ministry of Health. However, he exhorted Bogota citizens to take care of themselves because “Bogotá does not have the biological vaccine, but it does have the behavioral vaccine, which is called citizen culture.”

López highlighted the “excellent civic culture” of the residents of the capital and said that the success of the reopening is due, firstly, to the fact that the city’s inhabitants “They wear masks, wash their hands and are aware that they have to keep their distance”.

Since March, the month in which the National Government decreed the health emergency and quarantines were implemented to stop the spread of the coronavirus not only in Bogotá, but throughout the national territory, all the mayors were the target of criticism. López Hernández was no exception. However, Green Alliance policy says that the quarantines that were implemented in the capital were vital because “If Bogotá had not led the drill, our city, like New York, could have had deaths in the streets and buried people in parks.”

TransMilenio for the seventh or not

Hundreds of citizens have accused Claudia López of deceiving them because she said that in the campaign she would not do TransMilenio for the seventh, in front of this, López said that “I was not going to make a trunk like the one in Caracas on the Seventh, which was what Peñalosa intended to do.” I also clarify that what she will do during her district administration are “Exclusive lanes, with electric buses, and a pedestrian Seventh with public space, safe, illuminated and green. And that is exactly what we are doing”.

López also made public a complaint against the former mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa and assured that “Peñalosa inherited a Caracas trunk from us, a legal mess, two billion dollars bottled, and the Seventh was going to be left without a peso of intervention for 10 years”, he warned in dialogue with the Colombian media.

How is security going in Bogotá

López said that to curb insecurity in the city created “a specific TransMilenio police command, it has 750 men, and we set up a kind of security front” that will fight crime in the capital’s streets and stations.

Semana also asked the mayor about the demonstrations last September, as a result of the murder of Javier Ordónez. There, the president said that those who lost control were “The President and the Minister of Defense, who are the ones who give orders to the Police”. She also recalled that she does not belong to the command line of the Police and said that “It is evident that members of the Police were unaware of their line of command.”

“Yes there was undoubtedly a break in the chain of command, which is President, Minister, National Director of the Police and Director of the Metropolitan, because obviously if up here they did not give that order, why did that happen?”, He denounced.

What do you think of your ‘opponents’

Carlos Fernando Galán, President of the Bogotá Council and López’s ex-opponent at the polls, he has starred together with the mayor in some scuffles in recent weeks over the actions of the Bogota president. Faced with it, Claudia assures that she gets along very well with Galán and reminded him that he is the president of the Council thanks to “I invited him to be the president -of the Council- and my caucus elected him,” he said.

The Bogota woman also referred to Gustavo Petro, one of her biggest critics since he became Mayor. López highlighted Petro’s disposition, but questioned the actions of the progressive leader and launched a taunt: “He really couldn’t get over that not only was it not indispensable, but we defeated them. His candidate was third. Here we are governing and governing well ”, said the mayor of the capital of Colombia.

Claudia revealed that she does not regret supporting Petro in the presidential elections in the second round because she wanted to defeat Uribismo. However, she confirmed her position of being a center politician: “We are neither Uribistas, nor are we Petristas, nor do we believe that the world is reduced to them, nor do we believe them indispensable.” He concluded this section by saying that it is unheard of that in Petro’s Human Colombia they are unaware that the Center exists and “they attack us or they do not know us”.

When asked what he thinks of Petro, he acknowledged that he admires him for his proposals, but that lately, according to López, the left-wing leader has resorted like Uribismo to “Make hatred, anger, lies and exaggeration their political instrument.” In addition, he said that the country has a strong populism caused by Petro and Álvaro Uribe.

López is accused time and again of ‘getting along’ with President Iván Duque. The mayor denied this premise and says it is “a novel of the media.” He also questions that people “They are not used to a woman with character who tells the truth” and that she does, but that it does not interfere with the policy of the head of state. However, he revealed that sometimes “we agree with the Government, and sometimes not.”

López urged President Duque to pay more attention to Bogotá in terms of security since “he, who is the one who commands the Police, be clearer on the line, that he does not take us away and put us police every 15 days.”

When talking about politics acknowledged that she does aspire to be president of Colombia, but clarifies that “I am not here to hold a position”. In addition, when asked if he would support an eventual presidential candidacy of his wife, Senator Angélica Lozano, López said that “of course, I would support Angélica in whatever she wants in life. (…) She is the love of my life and I would support her in whatever she wants ”.

He ended his dialogue with Semana saying that he loves Sergio Fajardo very much and that he will be a “a tough competitor for the Presidency and that consultation at the center is going to be very good ”.