Mayor's Office explains what happened to the alleged case of discrimination against street dwellers in Mundo Aventura

Last Thursday, April 21, a complaint was made public alleging that workers at the Mundo Aventura amusement park, located in Bogotá, had discriminated against street residents who wanted to enter the establishment even though they had the tickets to enter the recreational space. The local mayor's office responded to the accusations and assured that what happened had to do with the priority of entry that had been initially given to children and adolescents who were also on the guest list.

“Regarding the situation, it should be noted that in April, the month of childhood, Corparques, from its area of social management, gave priority to programming for children and adolescents from vulnerable communities; therefore, the visit of street residents was rescheduled for May (...) from the local mayor's office of Kennedy, we reiterate our commitment to the inclusion of the vulnerable population of the locality that has benefited nearly 10,000 people”, the statement delivered to public opinion reads.

It was journalist Karen Bohórquez who made the complaint. “Mundo Aventura discriminated by denying entry to citizens living on the streets who had accompaniment from Bogotá and Integración as part of their resocialization process. They forget that they are human beings who deserve respect. How do we want society to improve?” , the journalist wrote next to a video in which a woman identified as Patricia Calvo claimed that she had not been allowed to enter because she was a street dweller. The invitation, according to Calvo Vega, was given between February and March.

“A month and a half ago we were invited to Mundo Aventura Park, we were very excited, but they didn't let us in because we are street dwellers (...) knowing that we are the same people as everyone who goes in there. We've never had fun like that,” Patricia said.

It was at the beginning of April that Corparques announced that it would join the initiative of the Presidential Council for Children and Adolescents in partnership with the Juego y Niñez Corporation and the Government of Cundinamarca, in the festival of Loving Parenting More Play.

Considering its commitment to social, corporate responsibility and sustainability, Corparques explained that there were, in total, seven approaches created to benefit families, children and young people in situations of vulnerability in Bogotá. The first pillar described had to do with social recreation, just the one that invited the beneficiaries to enjoy, free of charge, a day inside the park that, recently, was involved in the controversy of the alleged case of discrimination.

This objective was joined by others such as biosaludable, which aims to enable citizens to access free physical activity programs; equine therapy, an activity that was designed to be carried out within the park; social inclusion, which refers to generating safe and equitable spaces for people with disabilities; CSR events, which refers to those meetings of 'shared value to achieve common goals'; shared value alliances, which have to do with working together and to positively impact the Bogota community; and the early entrepreneurship network, Red-E, which aims to promote the culture of entrepreneurship in the context of formal education in children and young people.

For 2021, the entity emphasizes, some 62,328 people benefited from the Sustainable Entertainment Program. By 2022, it is projected that 120,000 people will be included in this type of process.

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