The speakeasies that pretended to be clubs and unions that were closed by the authorities in Bogotá

In an operation carried out by the authorities of the country's capital on April 7, 8, 9 and 10, 110 inspections were carried out in the towns of Ciudad Bolivar, Rafael Uribe, San Cristóbal, Usme, Engativa, Puente Aranda and Chapinero, 80 bars and 30 clubs that claimed to be unions.

Under the name of clubs or unions, these sites evaded the control of the authorities and acted as entertainment nightclubs, but due to the operation carried out within the framework of the Juntos Cuidamos Bogotá campaign, administrative proceedings against these establishments were initiated.

According to the authorities, in the joint work carried out by the mayor's office and MinTrabajo, the closure of these spaces gives a signal to establishments that intend to circumvent the jurisdiction of the supervisory bodies, Government Secretary Felipe Jiménez said: “We are convinced to improve security and coexistence, that is why we believe that we should not hide behind legal figures to evade responsibilities as commercial establishments”.

In the sealed establishments they were found to be suitable with bars, dance floors and other elements of a disco, in addition to the liquor that was sold. This is an action in the midst of the measures announced by Mayor Claudia López to strengthen security in Bogotá.

The Mayor's Office of Bogotá announced that the Special Administrative Unit for Public Services (UAESP), together with the secretariats of Social Integration, Culture, Recreation and Sport and the District Institute for Children and Youth (IDIPRON), created the Cleaning Squad to raise awareness among citizens about the importance of maintaining the public space clean and tidy.

This is due to the fact that the work of more than six thousand toilet workers has been hindered, who travel through the 20 towns of the city sweeping, cleaning, collecting and washing streets, parks and in general the entire public space, collecting more than 273 tons of waste, a weight equivalent to that of eight bi-articulated buses of TransMilenio.

This team will be made up of 980 young people belonging to the Parceros program of the Secretariat for Social Integration, who will travel through 19 of the 20 towns in response to complaints of trails and clandestine throws that citizens report through the website uaesp.gov.co/juntoscuidamosbogota.

In this way, once the complaint is reported, the squad will go to the place to clean and care for the space with the community.

“With this strategy we want to call on citizens to take care of the public space of the city together. We can put 100 thousand people with brooms and compactor cars with the costs that this implies, but without the support and co-responsibility of citizens, Bogotá will be dirty and neglected. To this end, we call on the people of Bogota to report these waste trails on our website. So, you report, we clean and together we take care of Bogotá,” explained Luz Amanda Camacho, director of the UAESP.

For Henry Murrain, Undersecretary of Citizen Culture and Knowledge Management, it is very important that citizens acquire “behavioral changes, such as caring for the environment, proper waste separation and the maintenance of our parks and common places; aspects that allow us to have a healthy coexistence and be part of of change to build together the city we need.”

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