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Buenos Aires Mayor accepts
ruling on same-sex marriage
Buenos Aires, 18 November 2009: Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri has decided not to appeal against a court decision allowing same-sex marriages in the Argentinean capital. In a ruling the court wrote that two articles in Buenos Aires’ civil code, which say only people of different sexes can get married, were illegal. However, the court decision applies only to Buenos Aires. Same-sex marriages in other parts of Argentina remain illegal.

Explaining the court ruling, Judge Gabriela Seijas said the law should treat each person with equal respect in relation to each person's singularities without the need to understand or regulate them. “The city code prevents people from enjoying the rights that couples who enter into matrimony are entitled to. Those rights include inheritances, pensions and the ability to make decisions for the other person when he or she is incapacitated," the judge added.

After the judgment was announced, Mayor Macri acknowledged that he was urged by many people to lodge an appeal. "I had an important internal debate, weighing my upbringing with my search for the best customs and best liberties for society," he wrote on his internet site.

The mayor compared today’s discussions about gay marriages with the debate about divorce 20 years ago. “"What we have to learn is to live in liberty without violating the rights of others," he concluded.

The legal case was launched by a gay couple who wanted their union registered by city authorities.

Belize mayor calls charges
trumped up and malicious
Belize City, 4 October 2009: The mayor of Belize City, Zenaida Moya Flowers, and three officials of the city’s finance department were taken to court in connection with an alleged disappearance of funds from City Hall. Puzzlingly, the mayor and her officials were charged with ‘uttering false documents’ and ‘failure to follow city council regulations’ rather than corruption, misappropriation or theft.

The prosecution alleges that the mayor presided over the loss of over a quarter of a million dollars from the account of the Belize City Council.

The Mayor, who is a member of Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s United Democratic Party, called the charges politically motivated. She claimed that a faction within her own party is pursuing a vendetta against her. "Everyone knows I have no cozy relationship with the Prime Minister. I am no puppet and nobody's little girl," she told reporters outside the courthouse. Mayor Flowers stressed that justice would prevail in the end over what she described as ‘trumped up malicious charges’. According to news sources, the mayor claimed that the money was used to cover expenses of the Belize City Council but was not able to provide supporting receipts or documents to show what the money was spent on.

A radio station in Jamaica also reported that the Belsize Auditor General, who investigated the Council, said he was not furnished with certain documents to validate the expenses and concluded that some of those documents that he did receive were not genuine.

Mexico City to ban free
plastic shopping bags
Mexico City, 14 September 2009: Mexico City has banned the free give-away of plastic shopping bags by supermarkets, with mayor Marcelo Ebrard saying in future they would only be allowed if biodegradable. A spokesman for the city’s Legislative Assembly also told reporters that old–style plastic packaging would only be allowed where food hygiene made it necessary. He also confirmed that Mexico City’s Science and Technology Institute would design an advice programme for that purpose. He added that government agencies would support plastic bags producers to acquire the technology in order to manufacture less polluting products.

Although the measures came into force in August, fines will not be issued until August 2010 in order to allow commercial establishments enough time to meet the standards. In the meantime many of the city’s supermarket chains have welcomed the measure, with some switching to biodegradable bags and others starting to charge customers for the plastic bags.

Restrictions on the use of plastic bags and other packaging materials have been introduced in a number of other countries. By next year France will have switched to biodegradable bags, while in the US some states have already begun to substitute plastic bags with biodegradable and oxidegradable ones. In other states customers are being charged for plastic bags to discourage the use of them. Supermarket customers in Sweden, Ireland and Germany are already charged for plastic bags. According to an international Nielsen survey, 50 per cent of shoppers are willing to stop using plastic bags and wrappings.

Mexico City promotes cycling
to ease traffic and pollution
Mexico City, 4 August 2009: Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard presented details of public bicycle scheme for the city, which is due to start operation in December. The scheme will be set up as an alternative to car use in order to ease the notorious pollution and traffic in the country’s capital. The mayor’s Bicycle Master Plan aims to increase bicycle trips from 1.2 per cent now to five per cent of daily trips made in the city by 2012.

Bike-ramps and parking facilities are being set up in the city, and over 20km of designated cycle lanes with protective barriers will be built by the end of this year, including a 10-kilometer stretch along the Paseo de la Reforma, a main road through the city. The Bike Master Plan has the goal of 300 km (186 miles) of new cycle lanes by 2012.

The city has already purchased 2,500 bicycles to give free to residents who complete a bicycle safety course. The bikes are city-friendly with a low frame for men and women, a basket, fenders, a rack, a bell, and reflectors.

Court allows São Paulo mayor
to publish city workers’ salaries
Sao Paulo, 15 July 2009: Freedom of information campaigners in Brazil have hailed a Supreme Court ruling that paves the way for the mayor of São Paulo to publish all city workers’ salaries online. Previously the state court had blocked the mayor’s move to publish the 'Keeping an Eye on Public Costs' (De Olho nas Contas) website on the grounds of personal security, but the country’s Supreme Court overturned this. The decision by the mayor, Gilberto Kassab, extended to all 147,000 workers on the city payroll, as well as 15,000 employed indirectly.

The suit to the São Paulo Supreme Court was filed by two professional associations in the city, who were granted an urgent injunction to have the information taken down by the city council. The two bodies argued that the website breached their members’ constitutional right to privacy. In response, the city council argued that its decision was in line with the constitutional right to freedom of information and transparency of government. The Supreme Court judge who overturned the state court’s decision, Justice Gilmar Mendes, said that the internet has transformed the citizen-state relationship and in this case the public interest would be maintained by the increased transparency of the council’s decision. For the court to overturn the municipal policy of increased transparency would breach public order, he argued.

Freedom of information campaign Article 19 hailed the judge’s verdict and welcomed the progressive stance of the São Paulo mayor, calling on other city councils to consider similar moves. The Brazilian Congress is currently considering a bill by President Lula to extend the country’s freedom of information laws.

OAS agrees to mediation after
Caracas mayor’s hunger strike
Caracas, 12 July 2009: The Mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, left a Caracas clinic intensive care ward but remained confined in a home while recovering from the effects of his six-day hunger strike. The mayor’s action was aimed at urging the Organization of American States (OAS) to mediate in Venezuela over moves by President Hugo Chavez to take away more powers and funding from opposition mayors.

OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said his organisation would carry out a, what he called, judicial study to establish whether laws had been violated in Venezuela. A spokesman for his office also confirmed that Insulza had agreed to meet opposition politicians, including state governors and mayors, to hear their grievances. But the OAS notably failed to offer any outright support for Mayor Ledezma and his followers.

The mayor started his hunger strike in an attempt to call international attention to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s moves to strip elected officials in states and cities of their authority and resources. Shortly after Ledezma was elected mayor in November 2008, the government appointed a pro-Chavez administrator of Caracas to take away control of the police and schools from the mayor’s office.

Venezuela’s ruling socialist party accused Mayor Ledezma of fabricating an entertainment show to distract from his failures since assuming office.

Trinidad and Tobago government
delays local elections for 4th time
Port-of-Spain, 9 July 2009: Opposition leaders in Trinidad and Tobago reacted with fury over government plans to delay local elections for a fourth time. According to opposition members of parliament, local government minister Hazel Manning, the prime minister’s wife, gave no inclination that local government elections would be delayed when she gave a lengthy speech to parliament. The measure was later introduced at the very end of a parliamentary sitting last Friday, at a time when many MPs had left the House.

Opposition Leader, Basdeo Panday, said the government was afraid to face the polls. “They know that they are extremely unpopular and that elections will show them up. Councillors have been there for seven years. It’s an erosion of our democracy. I’d say there’s a need for local government reform, but the government is using this as an excuse to postpone elections. The reform can be done in one month and elections could be held; we do not need to wait a whole year,” he added.

Asked what he thought of the late night cancellation of the local elections, Panday said: “We have come to expect the government to treat the parliament with contempt. They knew the media would not be there at that hour of the night. We do not have a parliamentary democracy but a parliamentary dictatorship.”

The government’s measure put to parliament states that the term of office of each councillor shall continue for another 12 months from the date of expiry of the existing term of office, as though each councillor had been elected for an additional period of one year. However, mayors and their deputies must be re-elected (by councillors) for a 12-months term.

Three Mexican mayors freed
while others face indictments
Mexico City, 2 July 2009: Three of the ten Mexican mayors arrested in May during a raid of suspected members of a drug cartel were released this week. The mayors from the towns of Coahuayana, Buenavista and Aquila were let go after spending more than a month in prison. A police spokesman declined to give any reasons for their release nor would he comment on whether the investigation against the three men would continue. He did, however, say that the seven other mayors still in custody would be charged with protecting members of the notorious La Familia drug cartel.

The accused mayors are from Apatzingan, Tepalcatepec, Arteaga, Uruapan, Ciudad Hidalgo, Tumbiscatio and Zitacuaro, all in the western Mexican state of Michoacan.

Meanwhile, police arrested three more officials suspected of links to drug cartels. The detained include Mariano Ortega, mayor of the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, as well as a former mayor and a former federal police officer.

Mexico’s state attorney to go after
every mayor linked to drug cartels
Mexico City, 28 May 2009: Over a 48-hour period Mexican police arrested 10 mayors and other high-ranking officials in the President Calderón’s home state Michoacan. City Mayors was told that more arrests are to be expected. “No mayor with links to organised drug trafficking is safe.”

The arrested include the mayors of Apatzingan, Tepalcatepec, Arteaga, Uruapan, Coahuayana, Zitacuaro, Aquila, Buenavista, Ciudad Hidalgo and Tumbiscatio, all of them connected to Mexican opposition parties. A spokesman for the attorney general said the mayors had been under investigation for the past six months. They are accused of leaking information and providing protection to a small but exceptionally violent cartel called La Familia de Michoacan, which announced its presence in 2006 by throwing five severed heads onto the floor of a nightclub.

Also arrested were the director of the Michoacan police-training institute, two municipal police chiefs and Ramon Ponce Ponce, who worked in the state attorney general’s office, as wells as municipal judge Jaime Liera Alvarez.

The simultaneous detention of the mayors represents a bold move by the government of President Felipe Calderón in his war against drug cartels. The mayors were taken to Mexico City to be interrogated. Some were taken from their homes, others from their offices. In some cases, the mayors were surrounded by 200 federal agents, supported by masked Mexican soldiers.

In private comments, officials from the US embassy in Mexico City described the action as bold and unprecedented. “The government of President Calderón may be the most honest Mexican government in history and public officials are starting to see the consequences of corruption,” they said.

Mayors play an important part in Mexico society. Their influence on law enforcement or otherwise can be enormous. “The rule of payoffs has been disastrous for the people of Mexico. Corruption is theft from the citizens as a whole,” journalists were told.

Sources close to Mexico’s attorney general’s office said more arrests are to be expected. “We need to go after every corrupt local government and police officer and rid the country of mayors with direct or family connections to narcotic cartels.”

Peru grants asylum
to Venezuelan mayor
Lima, 29 April 2009: A diplomatic row has broken out between Peru and Venezuela following the decision by Peru to award political asylum to the indicted mayor of Venezuela’s second city Maracaibo. Venezuela has recalled its ambassador to Peru over the row, which began when the mayor went into hiding ahead of a corruption trial. Rosales, the opposition candidate against president Hugo Chavez in 2006, denies any wrongdoing over the charges, which stem from his time as governor of Zulia state.
 
Venezuela’s foreign ministry denounced the Peruvian move as a “mockery of international law”, having demanded that Rosales be extradited when he surfaced in the country following his failure to appear before the courts. Rosales, elected as Maracaibo mayor last November, went into hiding three weeks ago when charges were filed.
 
Rosales was previously mayor of Maracaibo between 1996 and 2000, before being elected as Zulia state governor for two terms. Socialist legislators allege that Rosales has some $11m held in the US illegally acquired from public funds while state governor. As well as his opposition candidature in the 2006 elections, Rosales has long been a target for pro-Chavez forces owing to his apparent support for the organisers of the unsuccessful 2002 coup attempt against Chavez. Rosales has since claimed his declaration of support for the junta was made amid the confusion, which followed the president’s short-lived captivity.

Venezuela’s opposition mayors
battle against hostile government
Caracas, 22 April 2009: The mayor of Venezuela’s second city Maracaibo, Manuel Rosales, has sought asylum in an undisclosed country ahead of a corruption trial, his supporters claim. Rosales, who was Hugo Chavez’ main opponent in the 2006 presidential election, went into hiding three weeks ago. Un Nuevo Tempo (A New Era) leader Omar Barboza claimed that the trial, due to begin today, was being used as “political persecution” by Chavez and his United Socialist Party (PSUV) machine.

Earlier this year the newly-elected mayor of Caracas and Chavez opponent Antonio Ledezma was intimidated into hiding by PSUV activists, he claims. Observers inside and outside the country claim that the Chavez government is able to use judicial allies to silence any opposition to the ruling PSUV. In 2008 the New Era mayor of the Chacao district in the capital, Leopoldo Lopez, was prevented from running for the Caracas mayoralty on the basis of outstanding ‘administrative’ charges of political corruption.

‘City of God’ to be
connected to the net
Rio de Janeiro, 11 April 2009: Rio de Janeiro City is to provide wireless internet access to one of its best known favelas. The ‘City of God’ (Cidade de Deus), made famous through the film of the same name is home to some 50,000 people. Already children have access to the new service and by May the entire favela will be able to access the internet in the same way as Dona Marta, a shanty town south of Rio. The government is also providing lessons on how to use the internet.

A city government spokesman said the broadband internet service was to be distributed via 16 antennas. He added that security in Rio’s favelas has improved greatly since the eviction of drug gangs in November 2008. “Today, security has improved and the streets are cleaner and better lit. The government has allocated 115 million dollars for Rio’s free wireless project, launching the favela’s more than 300,000 residents straight into the digital world,” he explained.

In the meantime, while Rio’s City Hall is keen to connect the favelas to the world, state authorities are trying to prevent them from expanding into neighbouring forest areas. Many of the shanty towns will be enclosed by 3.5 metre high concrete walls. Icaro Moreno, president of the Rio de Janeiro’s public works department said each year the state was losing large areas of Atlantic rain forest. “Now, we're setting limits on where these communities can expand,” he explained. The state government is planning to build walls around some 40 slum areas by the end of 2010.

However, some rights groups have suggested the walls were being constructed to segregate the slums from the richer areas of Rio de Janeiro.

Mexican mayor killed
100 meters from home
Mexico City, 26 February 2009: On Tuesday afternoon, 24 February, hired assassins killed the mayor of Vista Hermosa, Michoacán, (Central Mexico), 100 meters from his home. There are indications that Mayor Octavio Manuel Carrillo may have been murdered by two former municipal policemen, The two men, who were fired by the mayor after they beat up and imprisoned a relative of his, are thought to be on the run from the authorities. However, police have not ruled out the possibility that the mayor had become a victim of drug traffickers. Several drug routes to the Mexican-US border run through Michoacán, a state most hit by violent crime.

The attack against Mayor Carrillo, happened only two days after an assault on bodyguards of Chihuahua State Governor, José Reyes Baeza, during which one of them was killed guarding the governor. However, Reyes has ruled out a murder attempt against him.

Mexican police chief quits
to save lives of his officers
Ciudad Juárez, 21 February 2009: Ciudad Juárez police chief, Roberto Orduña Cruz, stepped down after drug gangs carried out a threat to kill police officers every 48 hours to force his resignation. Yesterday, the killers shot dead a police officer and a prison guard, leaving notes on their bodies warning that more officials would be shot unless the head of police resigned. The two killings bring the total number of security personnel killed in the city in one week to five.

While Juárez Mayor José Reyes insisted that the authorities would not give in to threats, the head of police said he decided to quit in order not to endanger anymore lives. "We can't allow men who work defending our citizens to continue to lose their lives," he explained.

Mayors from across northern Mexico have told City Mayors that violence in their cities was out of control. “Since the beginning of 2008, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Ciudad Juárez alone, as drug cartels fight the authorities and each other.”

Meanwhile across the border, US authorities are worried that the violence would also affect cities like El Paso, with their large Mexican populations. US marshals have already reported an increase in killings and kidnappings in areas bordering Mexico. The US Department of Homeland Security say it is ready to bring in the military if there are signs of growing violence.

Venezuela votes
to end term limits
Caracas, 16 February 2009: A referendum to remove term limits for Venezuelan elected officials, from mayors up to the president, has been approved by a majority of voters.  The country's National Electoral Council confirmed that 54 per cent of voters had approved the measure on a 67 per cent turnout.  While international observers declared the ballot "free and fair", the opposition camp accepted the result with regret.

A broader constitutional revision was narrowly rejected by voters in a December 2007 referendum, which was viewed as a setback by President Chavez for his Bolivarian project. However, on this occasion, voters were presented with the simple question on removing term limits for public officials such as mayors, governors and the presidency, rather than any economic or social measures.  The vote follows last November's municipal races, which saw Chavez' supporters defeated in a number of key races, not least in Caracas.

The country's student led opposition said that it accepted the result but warned that Venezuela could become a 'dictatorship' as a result of this check on presidential power being removed.  Former Chacao mayor Leopoldo Lopez claimed the campaign was not fought on a level playing field as Chavez and his supporters had used "the entire state and all the power it can wield".  However, ahead of the vote President Lula of neighbouring Brazil asked why no one criticises Colombia's presidency for proposing a similar measure.  The vote follows similar measures passed in Bolivia and Ecuador recently, both countries being led Bolivarian allies of Chavez.

Mayor barred from
Caracas City Hall
Caracas, 2 February 2009: Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma has been barred from City Hall by supporters of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. The opposition mayor, who was elected in November last year, now works from a secret private address, while his official office remains locked and guarded by police. A spokesman for the mayor said the takeover of Caracas City Hall began two weeks ago when Chavez supporters stormed the building demanding that city employees, who lost their jobs after the Ledezma victory, should be re-instated.

Shortly after being elected, the new mayor refused to renew the contract of some 500 council organisers, saying that the city’s resources were too limited. His staff also maintained that the role of the organisers, who were appointed by the previous mayor, an ally of Chavez, was politically in nature.

In a telephone interview Mayor Ledezma is reported to have told reporters that the lock-out all part of a government strategy aimed at sabotaging his administration. "Chavez doesn't want opposition mayors and governors to be successful and he's using these violent groups to undermine our efforts," he said.

Last year the government brought the city police force under federal control, a move, opposition politicians say, to derive Caracas City Hall of some of its powers. Meanwhile, federal police have so far refused to remove government protesters from the mayor’s offices. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said police posted outside City Hall are protecting the building.