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Gustavo Petro

Gustavo Petro
Petro U Gustavo.JPG
797th Mayor of Bogotá
In office
April 23, 2014 – December 31, 2015
Preceded by María Mercedes Maldonado (Acting Mayor)
Succeeded by Enrique Peñalosa Londoño
In office
January 1, 2012 – March 19, 2014
Preceded by Clara López Obregón
Succeeded by Rafael Pardo (Acting Mayor)
Senator of Colombia
In office
July 20, 2006 – July 20, 2010
Constituency Capital District
Member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia
In office
July 20, 1998 – July 20, 2006
In office
December 1, 1991 – July 20, 1994
Constituency Cundinamarca Department
Personal details
Born Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego
(1960-04-19) 19 April 1960 (age 57)
Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba, Colombia
Nationality Colombian
Political party Progressivists Movement (2011–present)
Other political
affiliations
Alternative Democratic Pole (2004–2010)
Regional Integration Movement (2002–2004)
Alternative Way (1998–2002)
Spouse(s) Mari Luz Herrán Cardenas
Verónica Alcocer García
Alma mater Universidad Externado de Colombia, Pontifical Xavierian University, University of Salamanca
Profession Economist
Website www.gustavopetro.com

Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (born April 19, 1960) is a Colombian politician and economist. He was mayor of the capital city of Bogotá. In his youth, he was a member of the militant guerrilla group 19th of April Movement, which later evolved into the Alianza Democrática M-19, a political party in which Petro also participated. Years later he would become the presidential candidate for the Alternative Democratic Pole in the 2010 Colombian election, but placed fourth in the election after the now President Juan Manuel Santos, Antanas Mockus and German Vargas Lleras respectively. In 2011 Petro ran for Mayor as a member of the Movimiento Progresistas (Progresistas Movement). He won the election for Mayor of Bogotá, the second most important position in Colombian executive power, garnering 32% of the vote and defeating former mayor Enrique Peñalosa, Gina Parody, and Carlos Fernando Galán.

During his administration as mayor, he faced a recall process started by opposition parties and supported by the signatures of more than 600.000 citizens. After the legal verification 357,250 signatures were validated, many more than legally required to start the process. On December 9, 2013, Petro was removed from his seat and banned from political activity for 15 years, by Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, following the sanctions stipulated by the law. His sanction was allegedly caused by mismanagement and illegal decrees signed during the implementation of his waste collection system. This led to a series of protests citizens who deemed the Inspector's move as controversial, politically biased and un-democratic.

Despite being granted an Injunction by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which suspended the sanction imposed by Inspector General Ordoñez, President Juan Manuel Santos upheld the removal and Petro was removed from office March 19, 2014. For his temporary replacement, Santos appointed as Mayor the current Labor Minister, Rafael Pardo. On April 19, 2014, a magistrate from the Superior Tribunal of Bogota ordered the president to obey the recommendations laid out by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Petro was reinstated as mayor on April 23, 2014.


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