Supporters of Bogota, Colombia’s Leftist mayor Gustavo Petro gathered in the city’s main square, after it appeared that Petro lost his bid to stay in the job he was elected to do.  This, after President Juan Manuel Santos refused to abide by a ruling from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to halt Petro's sacking.

The Commission this week urged Colombia to put a stay on Petro’s removal from office, finding that Colombia's conservative inspector general violated the region's human rights charter when he ordered Petro's ouster in December and barring him from politics for 15 years.  IG Alejandro Ordonez decided Petro had violated the “free market” in 2012 by switching Bogota’s garbage collection from private companies to a city-run service.

Colombia usually heeds the Commission’s rulings, but this was one time that the conservative government decided it would not.  The move effectively shuts down Petro's political career.  His legal appeals had run their course in Colombian courts. 

President Santos named a member of his right-leaning government, Rafael Pardo Rueda, as acting mayor of the capital, which didn’t sit too well with Bogota voters.