View source for Antanas Mockus

{{short description|Colombian politician and educator}}
{{family name hatnote|Mockus|Šivickas|lang=Spanish}}
{{Expand Spanish|topic=bio|date=August 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Antanas Mockus Šivickas
|image        = Antanas Mockus (3) (cropped).jpg
|caption      = Mockus in 2012
|office       = 791st and 794th [[Mayor of Bogotá]]
|term_start   = 1 January 2001
|term_end     = 31 December 2003
|predecessor  = [[Enrique Peñalosa]]
|successor    = [[Luis Eduardo Garzón]]
|term_start1  = 1 January 1995
|term_end1    = 10 April 1997
|predecessor1 = [[Jaime Castro Castro|Jaime Castro]]
|successor1   = [[Paul Bromberg]]
|office2      = Rector of the [[National University of Colombia]]
|term_start2  = 1990
|term_end2    = 1993
|predecessor2 = Darío Valencia Restrepo
|successor2   = [[Guillermo Páramo Rocha]]
|birth_date   = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1952|03|25}}
|birth_place  = [[Bogotá]], [[Capital District (Colombia)|D.C.]], [[Colombia]]
|birthname    = Aurelijus Rutenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas
|nationality  = Colombian
|party        = Independent
|otherparty   = [[Green Party (Colombia)|Colombian Green Party]]<br />[[Indigenous Social Alliance Movement]]<br />[[Yes Colombia]]<br />[[Visionarios con Antanas Mockus]]
|spouse       = Adriana Córdoba
|alma_mater   = [[National University of Colombia]]<br />[[University of Burgundy]]
|occupation   = [[Politician]], [[Activist]]
|profession   = [[Philosopher]]; [[Mathematician]]
|website      = 
}}

'''Aurelijus Rūtenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas''' ({{IPA|es|anˈtanas ˈmokus}}; born 25 March 1952) is a Colombian [[mathematician]], [[philosophy|philosopher]], and politician. He has a master's degree in philosophy from the [[National University of Colombia]], and a Honoris Causa PhD from the [[University of Paris]].

He is the <!--Antanas Mockus has a sister, Ismena Vilte Ona Mockus Sivickas according to [http://www.terra.com.co/elecciones_2006/reportaje/27-03-2006/nota279827.html]-->son of [[Lithuanians|Lithuanian]] immigrants. He left office as the president of the [[National University of Colombia]] in [[Bogotá]] in 1993, and later that year ran a successful campaign for mayor. He proceeded to preside over Bogotá as mayor for two (non-consecutive) terms, during which he became known for springing surprising and humorous initiatives upon the city's inhabitants. These tended to involve grand gestures, including local artists or personal appearances by the mayor himself—taking a shower in a commercial about conserving water, or walking the streets dressed in spandex and a cape as Supercitizen. On 4 March 2010, he was elected in a public consultation as the [[Green Party (Colombia)|Colombian Green Party]] candidate for the [[2010 Colombian presidential election|presidential election in 2010]].

On 4 April 2010, Antanas Mockus chose [[Sergio Fajardo]], former mayor of [[Medellín]], as his vice-presidential running mate. On 9 April 2010 he announced that he had been diagnosed with [[Parkinson's disease]].<ref>{{cite news |publisher=Reuters |first=Hugh |last=Bronstein |date=9 April 2010 |access-date=12 April 2010 |title=Second-placed Colombian candidate has Parkinson's |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6384A420100409| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100422033855/https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6384A420100409| archive-date= 22 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> He told La W radio: "The prediction is that this will not affect my mental activities. I think it is absolutely fitting to tell the people about the diagnosis and about the prognosis—which is 12 years or more of normal life thanks to medication."<ref>{{cite web|agency=Associated Press |date=9 April 2010 |access-date=13 April 2010 |title=Colombia candidate discloses Parkinson's diagnosis |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011567266_apltcolombiaelections.html |publisher=The Seattle Times}}</ref> Mockus finished second in the polling, leading to a runoff election with [[Juan Manuel Santos]], which Santos won. Mockus resigned from the Green Party in June 2011 because he opposed its Bogotá mayoral candidate being supported by former right-wing President [[Álvaro Uribe]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Tom Heyden |date=10 June 2011 |access-date=13 June 2011 |title=Mockus quits Green Party over Uribe support  |url=http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16880-mockus-quits-green-party-over-uribe-support.html |publisher=Colombia Reports}}</ref>

He became Senator of the Republic of Colombia in July 2018, after being the second candidate with the most votes in the legislative elections held on March 11, 2018. He is also the president of the Corporación Visionarios por Colombia (Corpovisionarios), center of thought and non-profit action that investigates, advises, designs and implements actions to achieve voluntary changes in collective behavior.

==Early life and career==
Mockus was born in [[Bogotá]]. He holds a 1972 [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in mathematics from the [[University of Burgundy]] in [[Dijon, France]] and a 1988 [[Master of Arts]] degree in philosophy from the [[National University of Colombia]].<ref name=cu>{{cite web |title=Mayor Antanas Mockus Sivickas, Bogotá, Colombia |work=Columbia250 |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |year=2004 |url=http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_events/symposia/constitutions_bios.html#mockus |access-date=7 May 2010}}</ref> He has been a professor and researcher at the university since 1975 and has served as its vice president (1988–1991) and president (1991–1993). As its president, he contributed to the formulation of the [[Colombian Constitution of 1991]], focusing on educational issues.<ref name=cu/> In a notable 1993 incident, when confronted with a disruptive group of students, he [[mooning|mooned]] them.<ref name=moon>{{cite news|work=New York Times |first=Simon |last=Romero|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/world/americas/08colombia.html |date=7 May 2010|title=A Maverick Upends Colombian Politics|access-date=9 January 2010}}</ref> He later explained his action by saying "Innovative behavior can be useful when you run out of words", and linked it to philosopher [[Pierre Bourdieu]]'s concept of "symbolic violence."<ref name=moon/> He resigned as University president during the aftermath but gained a higher public profile that benefited his subsequent run for the mayorship.<ref name=moon/>

==Bogotá mayorship==
In 1995, he was elected Mayor of Bogotá.  Under Mockus's leadership, Bogotá saw improvements such as: water usage dropped 40%, 7,000 community security groups were formed and the homicide rate fell 70%, traffic fatalities dropped by over 50%, drinking water was provided to all homes (up from 79% in 1993), and sewerage was provided to 95% of homes (up from 71%). When he asked residents to pay a voluntary extra 10% in taxes, 63,000 people did so.<ref name=hu>{{cite web|title=Academic turns city into a social experiment |first=María Cristina |last=Caballero |date=11 March 2004 |url=http://www.news.Harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html|publisher=[[Harvard University Gazette]] |access-date=7 May 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100420023856/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/03.11/01-mockus.html| archive-date= 20 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> His market-oriented social policies were much less successful. Poverty and unemployment levels were high throughout his tenures and continue to be a pressing issue in Bogotá's social life.

[[File:Antanas Mockus.png|thumb|left|130px|Mockus in 2008]]
Famous initiatives included hiring 420 [[mime artist|mime]]s to make fun of traffic violators, because he believed Colombians were more afraid of being ridiculed than fined. He also put in place one "Night Without Men",<ref>''la noche sin hombres''</ref> on which the city's men were asked to stay home for an evening to look after the house and the children while the women went out.<ref name=hu/> The city sponsored free open-air concerts, bars offered women-only specials, [[Ciclovia]] and the city's women police were in charge of keeping the peace. Amassing political support mainly from Bogotá's middle and upper classes, he has been much less successful attracting voters in the national level.

During Mockus' unsuccessful presidential bid in 1998, [[Enrique Peñalosa]] replaced him as mayor. Peñalosa worked in a similar way instituting popular new bike paths and bus systems. When Mockus ran again for the 2001 mayorship, he held a ceremony in a public fountain "to ask forgiveness for leaving the mayor's office in an unsuccessful bid for the presidency." The impact of Mockus and Peñalosa on the development of Bogotá is described in a documentary film released in October 2009 with the title [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757707/ CITIES ON SPEED – Bogotá Change].

In 2003, Mockus stepped down as mayor, to be replaced by [[Luis Eduardo Garzón]], and took a year's sabbatical, traveling and speaking around the world. He planned to return to teaching at National University of Colombia the following year, although he said he was "considering the possibility of launching a presidential campaign". After spending two weeks as a visiting fellow at the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government|Harvard's Kennedy School of Government]] in the United States in 2004, "to share lessons about civic engagement with students and faculty", Mockus returned to [[University of Harvard|Harvard]] as a Visiting Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures to teach two Spanish classes during the Fall 2004–2005 semester. In November, Mockus made a special trip to the [[University of Virginia]] to speak about the use of positive social mechanisms in relation to his tenure as the mayor of Bogotá.

In 2004, Lithuanian worldwide daily ''[[Draugas]]'' chose Mockus as ''Lithuanian of the Year''. In October 2004 he visited the [[Lithuanians in the Chicago area|Lithuanian community]] in [[Chicago]], which is the biggest [[Lithuanians|Lithuanian]] community outside of [[Lithuania]], and delivered a speech in his native [[Lithuanian language]]. He is the president of Corpovisionarios,{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} an organization that consults to cities about addressing their problems through the same policy methodology that was so successful during his terms as Mayor of Bogotá.

==Presidential bids==
[[File:Mockus y fajardo.jpg|thumb|200px|Antanas Mockus and Sergio Fajardo]]
In between his two terms as mayor, Mockus ran an unsuccessful [[1998 Colombian presidential election|1998 bid for the presidency]], first in his own name and later as [[Noemí Sanín|Noemí Sanín Posada]]'s running mate. Mockus ran in the [[2006 Colombian presidential election|2006 presidential election]] as a member of the [[Indigenous Social Alliance Movement]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Election Profile: Country: Colombia|url=http://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=1011|publisher=[[International Foundation for Electoral Systems]] |access-date=3 June 2010}}</ref> He finished fourth in the election, attracting 1.24% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|title=Presidential Candidate Performance |url=http://www.electionguide.org/reports3.php?region=3&start_year=2001&submitted=1 |publisher=[[International Foundation for Electoral Systems]] |access-date=3 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517151256/http://www.electionguide.org/reports3.php?region=3&start_year=2001&submitted=1 |archive-date=17 May 2011 }}</ref>

In August 2009, Mockus and two other past mayors of Bogotá ([[Enrique Peñalosa]]  and [[Luis Eduardo Garzón]]) joined a new political movement, [[Green Party (Colombia)|Colombian Green Party]] and decided that one of them would run for office in the [[2010 Colombian presidential election]]s. Mockus, Peñalosa and Garzón embarked on an innovative campaign, in which they acknowledged and honored each other's qualifications and preparedness for the job, and telling people to choose whomever they liked best. Through a popular consultation carried on 14 March 2010, which he won by a large margin, Mockus became the [[Green Party (Colombia)|Colombian Green Party]] presidential candidate.
On 4 April 2010, Antanas Mockus chose [[Medellín]]'s former mayor [[Sergio Fajardo]] as his running mate, unifying two groups at the center of the political spectrum. Mockus finished second in the first round of voting, with 21.5% of the vote, qualifying him to participate in a runoff election with [[Juan Manuel Santos]], which Mockus lost decisively with 27.5% of the vote.

Antanas Mockus left the Green Party in 2011.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Antanas Mockus}}
* [http://www.partidoverde.org.co/ Partido Verde ] (Green Party, Colombia)

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{{s-aca}}
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{{s-end}}

{{Mayor of Bogotá}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mockus Sivickas, Antanas}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bogotá]]
[[Category:Colombian people of Lithuanian descent]]
[[Category:National University of Colombia alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the National University of Colombia]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Mayors of Bogotá]]
[[Category:Green Alliance (Colombia) politicians]]
[[Category:Yes Colombia politicians]]
[[Category:Colombian philosophers]]
[[Category:20th-century Colombian mathematicians]]