When a wave of online misinformation jeopardized the integrity of primary elections in Colombia, Juan Carlos Galindo, who headed the country’s National Civil Registry, decided it was time to address this emerging threat to democracy. The registry, which worked with the National Electoral Council, would soon conduct the first local elections since the country’s 2016 peace agreements, and Galindo wanted to ensure that voters had correct information about the process, including the locations and open hours of polling stations. He asked his team to find appropriate ways to respond to misinformation, mindful of low public trust, frequent strategic use of disinformation by political parties, and limited resources to target voters at the local level. Building on the experience of the registry’s Mexican counterpart, head of international partnerships Arianna Espinosa led the design and implementation of a plan to deal with the problem. The team struck deals with social media platforms, independent fact checkers, and political parties to take part in the fight against false information and used an artificial-intelligence-powered platform to detect and respond to false news about the election process during the campaign. By election day, the team had refuted a total of 21 misleading claims and published 59 verified news items and videos on social media, but the limited reach of the publications and minimal engagement with some of the key stakeholders prevented the registry from having the impact it aimed for. After the election, the new head of the registry refocused on building more-transparent processes and providing accessible information for citizens about elections while curtailing some of the initiatives Espinosa had introduced. This case is part of a series on combatting false information, including both misinformation (unintentional), disinformation (intentional), and fake news, one form of disinformation.

Alexis Bernigaud drafted this case study based on interviews conducted with officials, journalists, and civic leaders in Colombia and Spain from January through May 2023. Case published July 2023.

A once proud city, Bogotá was on the verge of ruin by the late 1980s. Its government was corrupt and dysfunctional, and the Colombian city regularly ranked among the worst places in the world in which to live. In 1986, then-president and former Bogotá Mayor Virgilio Barco lamented that “of that booming city that I governed, today all that is left is an urbanized anarchy, tremendous chaos, immense disorder, a colossal mess.” Beginning in 1992, however, Bogotá enjoyed a string of mayors who succeeded in turning the city around. The first of these mayors, Jaime Castro (1992-1994), fought to establish the financial and political framework that would empower the mayor’s office to function as a nucleus of reform. Castro’s successor, Antanas Mockus (1995-1997 and 2001-2003), built on that legacy, consolidating gains in the face of entrenched opposition on the city council and bringing tangible benefits to the population in the form of exemplary public-service delivery. By 2002, the United Nations had selected Bogotá as a “model city” to be emulated across Latin America and by early 2010, Mockus had emerged as a front-runner in Colombia’s presidential elections.

Matthew Devlin and Sebastian Chaskel drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Colombia during October and November 2009.

Associated Interview(s):  Jaime Castro Castro,  Liliana Caballero, Maria Isabel Patiño

GENERAR Y CONSOLIDAR UNA VUELTA DE PÁGINA: GOBERNABILIDAD EN BOGOTÁ, 1992-2003

SINOPSIS: La otrora ciudad imponente, hacia fines de los años '80 Bogotá se encontraba al borde de la ruina. El gobierno distrital se caracterizaba por la corrupción y el mal funcionamiento, y la capital colombiana frecuentemente se ganaba un lugar en el ranking mundial de los peores lugares para vivir. En 1986, el antiguo alcalde de la capital y por ese entonces presidente Virgilio Barco se lamentó, "De la ciudad vibrante que yo goberné, hoy sólo queda una anarquía urbana, un caos tremendo, un desorden inmenso, un desastre colosal." Sin embargo, a partir de 1992 Bogotá tuvo la suerte de tener una serie de alcaldes que consiguieron pasar la página en la historia de la ciudad. El primero de aquellos alcaldes, Jaime Castro (1992-94), luchó para establecer la infraestructura financiera y política que le otorgaría a la Alcaldía el poder para funcionar como un núcleo de reforma. El sucesor de Castro, Antanas Mockus (1995-97 y 2001-03), siguió construyendo sobre los cimientos legados por su predecesor, y así consolidó victorias a pesar de la oposición profundamente arraigada del Concejo de la Ciudad, trayendo beneficios tangibles para la población en la forma de mejoras en la prestación de servicios públicos. Al llegar el año 2002, las Naciones Unidas habían seleccionado a Bogotá como una ciudad modelo a ser emulada a través de Latinoamérica, y para comienzos del año 2010, Mockus había surgido como un candidato formidable a la presidencia colombiana. Matthew Devlin y Sebastian Chaskel redactaron este estudio practico basado en entrevistas que se llevaron a cabo en Colombia, en octubre y noviembre del 2009. El caso fue publicado en diciembre del 2010. Melina Meneguin-Layerenza tradujo este estudio en febrero de 2013.

Matthew Devlin y Sebastian Chaskel redactaron este estudio practico basado en entrevistas que se llevaron a cabo en Colombia, en octubre y noviembre del 2009. El caso fue publicado en diciembre del 2010. Melina Meneguin-Layerenza tradujo este estudio en febrero de 2013.
 

Inaugurated as mayor of Medellín at the beginning of 2004, Sergio Fajardo inherited a city roiled by decades of violence and corruption. During his four years in office, the charismatic former university professor turned Medellín around. He broke up clientelistic political networks, raised tax receipts, improved public services, introduced transparency fairs, established civic pacts, and restored citizens’ sense of hope. Fajardo left office at the end of 2007 with an unprecedented approval rating of nearly 90%. Though Medellín still faced significant challenges, the city was later identified as an exemplary case of good public administration by cities across Latin America and the Inter-American Development Bank. By 2010, Fajardo had been named the vice-presidential running mate of former Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus in that year’s presidential elections. 

In May 2004, Colombia’s Office of the Presidency established a national-level agency, the Centro de Coordinación de Acción Integral, to manage the reintroduction of state institutions into areas that had been retaken from leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers. The agency set up a central Bogotá office from which it coordinated work in so-called consolidation zones around the country. In many of these areas, the government had either been absent for decades or never present. In the words of Andres Peñate, former vice minister of defense and an architect of the initiative, “Although we were all Colombians, it was almost like conquering a different country.” Despite setbacks, by late 2009 the agency had received broad-based domestic and international endorsement.

Matthew Devlin and Sebastian Chaskel drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Colombia during October and November 2009. 

Associated Interview(s):  Diego Molano