Mockus: Not quite the man of the hour.

The results of the first round of Colombias presidential elections were a bit of a surprise.
Polls had placed Mockus, the Green presidential candidate, neck and neck with Uribes
heir apparent, Manuel Santos. In the end Santos ot !ust o"er #$% of the "ote, more than
double the &'% obtained b( Mockus, makin it hihl( likel( that he will be the ne)t
president of Colombia.
Mockus has an uphill, thouh not impossible battle, on his hands. The Colombian
electorate is fickle and not "er( ideoloical. In the conressional elections last March the
Greens obtained !ust o"er *+,,,,, "otes, but '.- million "oted in the .internal
consultation to choose Mockus as the Greens candidate and now more than three million
"oted for him in the presidential elections. The poor conressional election results can be
e)plained partl( b( corruption and the bu(in of "otes with cash pa(ments or promises
for schools, roads etc b( other parties. The presidential elections, thouh, are not
immune to a little bit of "ote riin. /ccordin to Gusta"o Petro, the candidate for the
Polo 0emocratico, appro)imatel( one million dollars was spent on bribin "oters in the
first round, particularl( on the Caribbean coast. It is a common practice, e"en in 1oot2
where a "ote oes for ', to '* dollars with lunch thrown in for ood measure. 3owe"er,
Colombians tend to inore local concerns and promises made when it comes to the
presidential elections.
The crowds that athered at Mockus post electoral rall( chanted 4It can be done5 and
the( are probabl( riht, it is possible thouh not probable. The Conser"ati"es ha"e all
but pleded their #% to Santos, the 6iberals are di"ided but the reional sections in
Santander and 7alle de Cauca ha"e publicl( stated the( will support Santos makin it all
but academic what Cambio 8adical and the Polo decide. Mockus needs to con"ince a
section of the more than *,% of the electorate that did not "ote to turn out for him on
9une &,
th
.
1ut what of Mockus: Is he reall( the opposition to Uribe: ;hen the polls placed him on
a par with Santos there was a ti<<( of acti"it( on the internet, particularl( from the left
pointin to his record as Chancellor of the =ational Uni"ersit( and his role as Ma(or of
1oot2. The record of Mockus, Pe>alosa and Gar<?n, the three e) ma(ors of 1oot2 that
are the dri"in force behind the Greens electoral success has passed into the realm of
leend rather than ha"in been sub!ected to an( serious anal(sis. Ser"ices were
pri"atised or outsourced and e"er( (ear &*,,,,, ha"e their water suppl( cut off due to
non pa(ment of bills, whilst at the same time the price of water went throuh the roof.
The Ma(ors office put up @+% of the cost of buildin the Transmilenio rapid transport
s(stem but onl( recei"es *% of the profits and co"ers the maintenance costs. /ll of this
is true but was of little conseAuence in the debate.
The debate, such that it was, amounted to no more than an oranised e)chane of
soundbites. Candidates were lined up on tele"ised panels and asked a series of Auestions
to which the( responded in under a minute with "er( little cross e)amination if an(. In
man( cases each candidate was asked a different Auestion. The format left no room for
real debate. Gusta"o Petro declared that he wanted a o"ernment with no more
e)tra!udicial e)ecutions. Santos, who as Minister for 0efence, bore responsibilit( for the
so called Balse Positi"es, was able to !ust simpl( repl( 4So do I5 and there it stood.
Mockus was able to et awa( with declarin that he couldnt recall what position he took
on Colombias aerial bombardment and in"asion of a B/8C camp in Ccuador. The
debates were not debates. Bor the purposes of this article I forced m(self to watch the
penultimate and final debate in their entiret( and at the end I was left with the feelin that
I should ha"e induled in the !o(s of cable and switched o"er to 0r 3ouse half wa(
throuh as I had done on pre"ious occasions. I did read the newspaper reports but the(
were onl( slihtl( better than the debates.
Mockus popularit( is not the product of a profound challene to the politics of the last
eiht (ears. 9ust before the elections he declared to the press how much he admired the
ood work of Uribe and he like all of the other candidates, includin Petro, declared that
he would continue with Uribes polic( of 0emocratic Securit(. The contradiction
between this and his promise for ethical o"ernment or his sloan that life is sacred was
ne"er e)plored. 3e is "er( much a creation of the media. In man( wa(s his rapid rise
parallels that of Uribe, a candidate who came out of nowhere to take the presidenc( in the
midst of a concerted media campain. Uribe won the &,,& elections promisin <ero
corruption and the militar( defeat of the B/8C and the C6=. The fact that uerrillas,
thouh cornered, remain stron or that his o"ernment turned out to be the most corrupt
in Colombian histor( has not dented that imae. The scandals that ha"e doed his eiht
(ears are put down to the failins of indi"iduals. Bor a time it seemed that he would
emulate Uribes "ictor( with a promise to introduce, perhaps for the first time e"er, a
dose of ethics to Colombian politics. The scandals it seemed would do for him what the
failure of Pastranas neotiations with the B/8C did for Uribe. The difference is, of
course, that Uribe challened the Pastrana o"ernment as such and not !ust the failins of
indi"iduals.
Mockus campain is, like the debates, replete with banalitiesD life is sacredD public funds
are sacred etc. 3e is a Green candidate that has little or nothin to sa( on the
en"ironment. 3is fourteen point document on en"ironmental priorities steers clear of the
en"ironmental elephant in the room. Under Uribe, minin companies ha"e been i"en
access to en"ironmentall( sensiti"e areas, includin the areas that enerate @,% of the
public water suppl(. ;ere he to mention it, he would ha"e to challene Uribes economic
policies and he like most of the candidates is runnin scared of the shadow of Uribes
eiht (ears in o"ernment. ;ith the e)ception of Petro, no candidate made an( effort to
challene the fundamentals of his economic leac(. Should Mockus pull off the and
trounce Santos in the second round, it is unlikel( that his o"ernment will be radicall(
different. 3e miht !ust be more ethical, but then Uribe told us there would be no
tolerance of corruption in his o"ernment and look what happened. 3opefull(, the
debates will be more interestin in the second round and I can opt for watchin the reruns
of 0r. 3ouse once the elections are o"er. Thouh, I suspect I ma( end up watchin them
first time round.