“WEAPONS have given you independence. Laws will give you freedom”. This pledge to Colombians by Francisco de Paula Santander, an independence leader, is inscribed above the portal of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá. Ever since Santander, Colombia has been the most legalistic country in Latin America. Perhaps not coincidentally, it has also been one of the most lawless.Colombia is less lawless these days. And its legal tradition often stands it in good stead. Its Constitutional Court knocked down a dubious effort by Álvaro Uribe, the country’s messianic president of 2002-10, to change the constitution to allow him a third consecutive term. In the 1980s dozens of judges preferred to die than buckle to drug traffickers.But rather than freedom, legalism can sometimes bring arbitrary decisions and political headaches—as in the case of Gustavo Petro. Mr Petro was elected as mayor of Bogotá in 2011. A leftist former guerrilla leader, he is outspoken and high-handed. His stewardship of Colombia’s capital, a city of 7.6m, was unpopular. He mixed some progressive measures—banning bullfighting and promoting gay marriage—with a bungled effort to return the private rubbish-...
from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1jRijjo
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