PETRO FRIED

On the 19th March Bogotá's leftist mayor Gustavo Petro finally lost his fight to remain in office. After 3 months of Mr Petro holding onto his seat a Colombian inspector had the mayor's post immediately taken from him and banned him for 15 years. A bit harsh you might think, but, scenario's such as the 2012 rubbish-collection crisis saw the streets of Colombia filled with rubbish for 3 days. This is just one of the many reasons why the longevity of the former mayor's departure doesn't come as much of a surprise.

Mr Petro wasn't going to stand for this and took the case straight to court. After being denied by various court's you would think Mr Petro would take a hint, luckily for him On March 18th the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (part of the organisation of American States) ruled in favour of Mr Petro. Unfortunately for Mr Petro his "triumph" was very short-lived and the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos announced the following day that they will not be taking up the decision made by the council ultimately sealing Mr Petro's fate.

So where does this leave Colombia? Well with Mr Petro out of the frame the government have hopes of getting a powerful guerrila movement which have been fighting against the state for almost half a century to demobilise and agree to peace terms.

If all things go according to plan we could be seeing a crucial stepping stone put in place which may project a brighter future for Colombia.