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Brazil’s city minister resigns
over corruption allegations
Brasilia, 3 February 2012: Brazil’s Minister of Cities resigned yesterday amid allegations of corruption. Mario Negromonte, who held the office since Dilma Rousseff succeeded Lula da Silva as president, is a member of the Progressive Party (PP), which is allied to the country’s ruling left-wing Workers’ Party (PT). Negromonte is accused of awarding public work contracts to companies that had financed his party. In a short statement he denied all accusations and said his resignation was in no way an indication of guilt.

According to various media reports, Negromonte’s office was allegedly involved in inflating costs of transport projects in Cuiaba (Mato Grosso), one of the locations for the 2014 World Cup.

Mario Negromonte will be replaced by Aguinaldo Ribeiro, who himself has already attracted some media interests over alleged nepotism. Estadao, the political website of the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo reported that Ribeiro asked the then cities minister Negromonte to approve a housing programme in Pilar, Paraiba. Ribeiro’s mother, Virginia Veloso Borges, is the mayor of Pilar. The programme has now been put on hold.

The newspaper also reported that, while a member of the Brazilian upper house, Ribeiro helped pass legislative measures which resulted in R$780,000 in funding for education and health projects in the town of Campina Grande, another city in Paraiba, where his sister, Daniella Ribeiro, is a prospective candidate for mayor.

Biogas from Mexico City landfill
site to be turned into electricity
11 January 2012: After serving as Mexico City’s main garbage landfill site for 26 years, Bordo Poniente will be closed. The site, which currently stores some 72 million tons of garbage, has been receiving every day 12,000 tons of waste generated by the Federal District of Mexico City. The closure was promised by Mayor Marcelo Ebrard when he took office in 2006 and was originally scheduled to take place in 2010. This week, the mayor’s office said that a former sand mine in eastern Mexico State would serve as the city’s main garbage landfill site.

Meanwhile, Fernando Menendez, director of the Integral Management of Solid Waste Commission, announced the launch next month of an international tender for the capture of biogas at Bordo Poniente. The choice of operators will be made public in June and it is hoped that the process of turning biogas into electricity will commence in October.

Fernando Aboitiz, Secretary for Publics Works and Services said that the tender was globally the most important of its kind, because it would mean an annual reduction of 20 million tons of greenhouse gases. At present, the biogas emission from the Bordo Poniente site accounts for about 20 per cent of total greenhouse gases emitted in the Federal District.

It is envisaged that between 2012 and 2037 more than 20 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2e) will be eliminated annually. The project is likely to enter the market of carbon offsets. Once the period of exploitation and use of biogas is concluded, Bordo Poniente will be turned an area of green open space.

Historically, the Bordo Poniente is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the Federal District and after its closure is possible to achieve the goals of the Green Project in Mexico City and the Climate Action Program.

Earlier this week, after several days of problem-related garbage collection due to the Bordo’s closure, the government of the Federal District announced the location of the new garbage dump. It is a 100-hectare 130-meters deep field divided into four 25 hectare pits located in a former sand mine called 'El Milagro' near the municipality of Ixtapaluca, in the eastern part of the State of Mexico. It has been operating since 2010 and will receive the bulk of waste from the city. It is located nine kilometers away from the nearest town.

Mexican mayors ask for greater
protection after another killing
Mexico City, 5 November 2011: Following the killing of a mayor in western Mexico, the National Federation of Municipalities of Mexico (FENAMM) asked the government to provider greater protections for the country’s mayors. La Piedad Mayor Ricardo Guzman Romero was shot dead three days ago while distributing election pamphlets ahead of next Sunday’s state elections for a new governor and parliament. Angelica Araujo, President of FENAMM, said that Mexico suffered from an unsustainable climate of terror in the country’s municipalities, cities and states.

Guzman Romero was campaigning on behalf of the sister of Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon. Luisa Maria Calderon is the ruling Nation Action Party’s gubernatorial candidate.

FENAMM President Angelica Araujo told journalists that since August 2010 some 20 Mexican mayors were murdered. “If elected representatives fall prey to organized crime, what security can Mexican families have?” she asked. She added that after one day before the latest killing, the mayor of the northeastern city of Montemorelos escaped unharmed from an armed attack. FENAMM, which speaks for the majority of Mexican mayors, urged President Calderon to allow mayors to participate in the National Public Safety council and provide municipalities with the resources to protect their elected officers.

World Mayor 2010 winner and Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard called the killings attacks on local democracy. “I hope federal and state authorities take measures to ensure there are elections in which citizens can vote freely," he said.

Several Mexican newspapers reported that some mayoral candidates from Mexico’s three main parties have recently pulled out of election races. The papers believe that the candidates were pressured or threatened by drug cartels, although the candidates gave other reasons for dropping out.

Colombians turn away from
former US-backed president
Bogota, 1 November 2011: The election of former guerrilla Gustavo Petro as Bogota mayor has raised hopes among Colombians that 50 years of civil war might be coming to an end. Petro, who will assume his new post on 1 January 2012, fought as a young man with the now defunct leftist M-19 rebel movement. His victory and those of other leftist and centre-left candidates across Colombia, represent a severe defeat for the former US-backed president Alvaro Uribe.

In his victory speech, the former guerrilla thanked the Bogotanos who voted for him, but stressed the city has a long road ahead after a widely considered disastrous administration by outgoing Mayor Samuel Moreno who is in jail on corruption charges. "This is a victory of the desire for change of the city of Bogota which demands immense challenges of the 21st century, like overcoming an administrative crisis," Petro said.

The socialist, a long-time political enemy of former right-wing, US-backed President Alvaro Uribe and outspoken critic of current President Juan Manuel Santos, called on the government to work together. "There are things to talk about with the president," said Petro, stressing the importance of cooperation between the capital district and national government and a "plan to mitigate the effects of the Free Trade Agreement" with the United States.

Last year the mayor-elect ran for president with the support of his left-wing Polo Democrático Alternativo party but could only manage fourth place. Between 2006 and 2010 he represented Bogota in the Colombian senate.

Former president Alvaro Uribe lost a great deal of political influence in Sunday's local elections, where candidates endorsed by him lost in almost all major cities and in the majority of departments.

Uribe, who had been promoting his candidates since January and intensified his explicit endorsements in the months leading up to the elections saw his gubernatorial candidates lose in 10 departments and win in six. Of the seven major cities, the only Uribe-endorsed candidate who made it to mayor-elect was Cali's Rodrigo Guerrero, who had been receiving the support of almost all political parties, except the socialist Polo Democratico. In addition to Uribe's most prominent defeat in Bogota, was in his home department of Antioquia, where his allies lost both the Governor's Office and the Mayor's Office of the capital, Medellin.

Nevertheless, according to political analysis website La Silla Vacia, Uribe did win in municipalities that are of economic importance to his family; the former president won almost 90 per cent of the municipalities in neo-paramilitary violence-ridden Cordoba where he owns a holiday home, "El Uberrimo." Uribe also won the municipalities forming the "half moon" northwest of Bogota where his sons have invested in projects of what could be the biggest free trade zone near the capital. The former president also won in Puerto Gaitan, Meta where Canadian oil company Pacific Rubiales runs Colombia's largest oil field, although these elections are contested because according to electoral observers falsified ballots were found. (Report by Adriaan Alsema and local reporters)

COHA Director Larry Birns adds:
Gustavo Petro’s hefty plurality in the Bogotá mayoral race represents a stunning victory for the country’s democratic process, and a severe setback for the Obama administration’s Latin American policy. Together with the defeat of almost all of the candidates backed by former hardline Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, Petro’s triumph represents a classic repudiation of Washington’s Cold War anti-insurgency policy that actually dates back to the Clinton administration’s fictive stance that all differences between nations are susceptible to being forced upon a procrustean bed rather than be subjected to the application of a vibrant democratic diplomacy. Maybe now local national interests and not only Washington’s narrow security values will be respected.

With Washington repeatedly striking out on its Cuban policy, the Obama White House is all but undistinguishable from what it was under President Bush. When it comes to Latin America, the current administration might want to take the opportunity to start fresh with Colombian President Juan Manual Santos and Bogotá’s victorious mayoral candidate, Gustavo Petro.

Because Washington now has to forget its favorite Latin American servitor Álvaro Uribe in favor of a dramatic new leadership in Colombia, Obama should seek to alter the Clinton and Bush policy, which relied heavily on violent, coercive rhetoric. There are lessons to be learned from Colombia, but not from Uribe. If Colombia demonstrates just a bit more in favor of human rights values, when it comes to the free trade agreement, Washington might be able to obtain heftier support from the democratic left which up to now has eluded it.

Mexican mayors honourd for
best practice in 16 categories
Mexico City, 25 September 2011: This month 16 Mexican mayors were awarded prizes for best practice in a wide range of areas. The awards were given by Alcaldes de México (Mayors of Mexico), a magazine focusing on municipal issues. The magazine celebrated its 2nd anniversary with its first award presentation to 16 mayors and three Town Councils in 16 categories in an effort to promote best local government practice and offer a better future to citizens.

The Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard was awarded a special prize for being the mayor with the greatest international projection by winning the 2010 World Mayor Prize awarded by the City Mayors Foundation, in addition to other international awards. The mayor was also praised for his work as Chairman of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change.

In order to locate the most outstanding municipalities, Alcaldes de México carried out a research based on studies at regional level prepared by research institutions, universities, international organizations, among others. 16 categories resulted from the gathered information, which relate to traditional actions of local governments and also new responsibilities derived from the expansion of information technologies, climate change, international competitiveness, among others.

Selected winners:
Prize category: Digital City.
Winner: Angélica Araujo Lara, Mayoress of Mérida, Yucatán (2010-2012).
Achievements: Consolidation of the e-government project that includes services and internet access to the majority of population.
 
Prize category: Security.
Winner: Yassir Vázquez Hernández, Mayor of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas (2011-2012).
Achievements: Plans to install 150 extra surveillance cameras, 3 private police forces; 193 recreational and sport are sought to be adapted for diverse activities; first Mexican city certified by the Swedish Karolinska Institute for its crime combat programs.

Prize category: Transparency.
Winner: Eduardo Rivera Pérez, Mayor of Puebla, Puebla (2011-2013), and Ana Lilia Herrera Anzaldo; Mayoress of Metepec, Estado de México (2009-2012).
Achievements: Highly rated in the compliance with the citizens’ access right to public information.
 
Prize category: Energy Saving.
Winner: Benito Caballero Garza, Mayor of Apodaca, Nuevo León (2009-2012).
Achievements: Substitution of 22 thousand 90W street lights.
And Elvira del Carmen Gil Hoyos, Ninth Councillor of the Municipality of Centro, Tabasco.
Achievements: Investment in more efficient street light, water pumps and energy saving transformers; 12 percent reduction of energy consumption. 

Prize category: Financial Services-Credit Quality.
Winner: Carlos Bustamante Anchondo, Mayor of Tijuana, Baja California (2010-2013).
Achievements: Savings generated by debt restructuring; 40 percent of own tax collection with regards to the total income; budget and indebtedness maximum extension.

Prize category: Tourism Development.
Winner: María del Rocío Pineda Gochi, Mayoress of Morelia, Michoacán (2008-2011).
Achievements: Through the Meetings Tourism Programme the city has obtained social benefits. Free of charge conventions, events in public buildings – free of charge health services, scholarships, etc. in return.

Prize category: Infrastructure.
Winner: Adán Soria Ramírez, Mayor of Durango, Durango (2010-2013).
Achievements: Logistic and Industrial Centre project (1,600 hectares) for an efficient industry development and transport.

Prize category: Solid Waste Management.
Winner: Lorena Martínez Rodríguez, Mayoress of Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (2011-2013).
Achievements: 95 per cent of the 600 waste tons that are generated every day are buried on the same day; rubbish dumps are 100 per cent controlled; international recognitions as the cleanest city.

Prize category: Healthy Public Finances-Collection.
Winner: Alejandro Zepeda Munro, Mayor of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora (2009-2012).
Achievements: Efficient property tax collection; fiscal autonomy; generation of 73 percent of own income of a year’s total resources.

Prize category: Competitiveness.
Winner: Francisco Domínguez Servién, Mayor of Querétaro, Querétaro (2009-2012).
Achievements: Healthy public finances; low crime rate; one of the cleanest cities; economic growth; high infrastructure development; awarded fourth place recognition to the American Cities of the Future by the Financial Times’ Di Intelligence magazine. 

Prize category: Industrial Development.
Winner: Juan Roberto Tovar Torres, Mayor of Silao, Guanajuato (2009-2012).
Achievements:  48 transnational companies have settled in the city; 60 per cent of the state’s exports come from Silao, mainly from the motor industry.

Buenos Aires incumbent
mayor wins second term
Buenos Aires, 5 August 2011: Buenos Aires’ incumbent mayor Mauricio Macri won a second term after gaining more than 64 per cent of the vote in the second round of mayoral elections. His second-round opponent was the government-backed candidate Daniel Filmus, who was supported by just 36 per cent of voters. Argentine’s President Cristina Fernández, who faces a presidential election in October, campaigned extensively for Daniel Filmus, arguing that the country’s capital would benefit from centre-left policies. Macri, who during his first term ditched many conservative policies, promised to focus on poverty if re-elected.

During Macri’s first four years in office, Buenos Aires invested in flood prevention works, built some 65 kilometers of cycle paths and created a city police force. In May, the mayor ruled himself out as a presidential candidate, realising that he had little chance of defeating President Cristina Fernández in October.