Offbeat Leftist's New Take on Bogota [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

November 3, 2003 E-mail story Print


THE WORLD
Offbeat Leftist's New Take on Bogota
An oil union chief and former caddie drawn to salsa bars, Mayor-elect Luis Eduardo Garzon aims to fight poverty.



By Ruth Morris, Special to The Times


BOGOTA, Colombia — Luis Eduardo Garzon is hardly part of Colombia's ruling elite. He doesn't own a tie, he didn't finish college, and he hangs out in sweaty salsa clubs.

But after a turbulent electoral weekend, he has streaked into the stratosphere — a former golf caddie turned shining star of Colombia's emergent left-wing political force.

Portly and unpretentious, Garzon won 47% of the vote in municipal elections Oct. 26 to become mayor-elect of the bustling capital, Bogota. The victory put his fledgling party, the Independent Democratic Pole, on the map and placed Garzon in the most visible government post outside the presidential palace.

"I'm a Marxist-Lennonist," said Garzon, who began his political life as a Communist but has since moderated his stance. "Marxist for the Marx Brothers, and Lennonist for Lennon. My style of government will be authentic. There won't be any liposuction."

Garzon's triumph also dealt a serious blow to Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's hawkish, workaholic president, who was still enjoying his political honeymoon when Garzon irreverently stepped into the limelight. (snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mayor3nov03,1,221146.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Free registration required