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Antanas Mockus

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Antanas Mockus Šivickas
Mayor of Bogotá
In office
January 1st, 2001 – December 31st, 2003
Preceded byEnrique Peñalosa Londoño
Succeeded byLuis Eduardo Garzón
In office
January 1st, 1995 – April 10th, 1997
Preceded byJaime Castro Castro
Succeeded byPaul Bromberg Zilberstein
Personal details
Born
Aurelijus Rutenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas

(1952-03-25) March 25, 1952 (age 72)
Bogotá, DC, Colombia
Political partyColombian Green Party
Other political
affiliations		Indigenous Social Alliance Movement
Yes Colombia
Visionarios con Antanas Mockus
SpouseAdriana Córdoba
Alma materNational University of Colombia
University of Burgundy
OccupationPolitician, Activist
ProfessionPhilosopher, Mathematician

Aurelijus Rutenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas (born 25 March 1952 in Bogotá), is a Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician. The son of Lithuanian immigrants, he left his post as the dean of the National University of Colombia in Bogotá in 1993, and later that year ran a successful campaign for mayor. He proceeded to preside over Bogotá as mayor for two terms, during which he became known for springing surprising and humorous initiatives upon the city's inhabitants. These tended to involve grand gestures, including local artists or personal appearances by the mayor himself — taking a shower in a commercial about conserving water, or walking the streets dressed in spandex and a cape as Supercitizen. He speaks fluently four languages: Spanish, English, French and Lithuanian.

On the 14th of March he was elected in a public consultation as the Colombian Green Party candidate for the presidential election in 2010. On April 4, 2010, Antanas Mockus teamed up with Medellín's former mayor Sergio Fajardo, choosing Fajardo as his vice-presidential running mate. On April 9, 2010 he announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease,[1] which didn't stop him to continue running for president because, as he told La W radio: "The prediction is that this will not affect my mental activities. I think it is absolutely fitting to tell the people about the diagnosis and about the prognosis — which is 12 years or more of normal life thanks to medication."[2]. As of April 27th, 2010, Mockus was leading the polls on vote intention with significant margin (as per the "Gran Encuesta" by the RCN network)

Bogotá mayorship and presidential bid

Under Mockus's leadership, Bogotá saw improvements such as: water usage dropped 40%, 7000 community security groups were formed and the homicide rate fell 70%, traffic fatalities dropped by over 50%, drinking water was provided to all homes (up from 79% in 1993), and sewerage was provided to 95% of homes (up from 71%). When he asked people to pay a voluntary extra 10% in taxes, over 60,000 people did so. His market-oriented social policies were much less successful. Poverty and unemployment levels were high throughout his tenures and continue to be a pressing issue in Bogotá's social life.

Famous initiatives included hiring 420 mimes to make fun of traffic violators, because he believed Colombians were more afraid of being ridiculed than fined. He also put in place one "Women's Night", on which the city's men were asked to stay home for an evening to look after the house and the children. The city sponsored free open-air concerts, bars offered women-only specials, Ciclovia and the city's women police were in charge of keeping the peace. His initiatives to reduce violence by engaging citizens in civil resistance against violence were as original as successful. He successfully combined showmanship, fiscal discipline and heavy reliance on punitive measures. Amassing political support mainly from Bogotá's middle and upper classes, he has been much less successful attracting voters in the national level. In the past Presidential elections in 2006 he won less than two hundred thousand votes, less than 5 percent of the votes.

In between his two terms as mayor, Mockus ran an unsuccessful 1998 bid for the presidency, first in his own name and later as Noemí Sanín Posada's running mate. In the meanwhile, Enrique Peñalosa replaced him as mayor. Peñalosa worked in a similarly way instituting popular new bike paths and bus systems. When Mockus ran again for the 2001 mayorship, he held a ceremony in a public fountain "to ask forgiveness for leaving the mayor's office in an unsuccessful bid for the presidency."

The impact of Mockus and Peñalosa on the development of Bogotá is described in a documentary film released in October 2009 with the title CITIES ON SPEED - Bogotá Change. It is promoted as being "the story of two charismatic mayors, Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa who, with unorthodox methods, in less than 10 years turned one of the world's most dangerous, violent and corrupt capitals into a peaceful model city populated by caring citizens. With Mockus and Peñalosa and key members of their staff as first hand witnesses, the film uncovers the ideas, philosophies and strategies that underlie the changes in Bogotá and which are now being exported to cities worldwide."

Recent Work

In 2003 Mockus stepped down as mayor, to be replaced by Luis Eduardo Garzón, and took a year's sabbatical, travelling and speaking around the world. He planned to return to teaching at CNU the following year, although he said he was "considering the possibility of launching a presidential campaign".

After spending two weeks as a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School of Government in the United States in 2004, "to share lessons about civic engagement with students and faculty", Mockus returned to Harvard as a Visiting Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures to teach two Spanish classes during the Fall 2004-2005 semester. In November, Mockus made a special trip to the University of Virginia to speak about the use of positive social mechanisms in relation to his tenure as the mayor of Bogotá.

In 2004 Lithuanian worldwide daily Draugas chose Mockus as Lithuanian of the Year. In October, 2004 he for the first time visited Lithuanian community in Chicago, Illinois, which is the biggest Lithuanian community outside the Republic of Lithuania, and delivered a speech in his native Lithuanian language.

On December 2, 2005, it was announced that his 2006 presidential campaign would be supported by the Indigenous Social Alliance Movement (ASI).[3] He polled fourth in the election, attracting 1.24% of the vote.

In February 2008, he was a major speaker at World Conference on Development of Cities, held in Porto Alegre City, Brazil.[4]

In March 2010, he was a speaker at the International Conference of Innovative Cities, in Curitiba City, Brazil.[5]

He is currently the President of Corpovisionarios, an organization that consults to cities about addressing their problems through the same policy methodology that was so successful during his terms as Mayor of Bogotá.

In August 2009 Dr. Mockus and two other past mayors of Bogotá (Peñalosa and Garzón) joined a new political movement, Colombian Green Party and decided that one of them would run for office in the 2010 Colombian presidential elections. Dr. Mockus, Peñalosa and Garzón embarked in a very innovative campaign, in which they acknowledged and honored each other's qualifications and preparedness for the job, and telling people to choose whomever they liked best. Through a popular consultation carried on March 14, 2010, which he amply won, Dr. Mockus became the Colombian Green Party presidential candidate. On April 4, 2010, Antanas Mockus teamed up with Medellín's former mayor Sergio Fajardo, choosing Fajardo as his vicepresidential formula which signified the unification of two groups at the center of the political spectrum. According to recent polls (April 22, 2010) a second electoral round will be necessary, in which, if held today, Dr. Mockus would be elected President of Colombia.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Second-placed Colombian candidate has Parkinson's". Reuters. 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  2. ^ "Colombian presidential contender Antanas Mockus has Parkinson's disease, campaign continues". Associated Press. 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]

References

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