![]() ![]() ![]() “I was rushing to university when I got absolutely soaked through.”įrancisco de Nicolás seeks out loose paving slabs that could soak or trip up unsuspecting pedestrians and casually paints them with a spray can. “Oh yeah, who hasn’t been screwed by one of those?” said Andrea Patiño, a 22-year-old student, dodging some of the freshly painted tiles. ![]() Water accumulates with grit and mud underneath loose slabs where it lies dormant until an off-guard pedestrian treads on it, sending streams of brown sludge in every direction. “We have grown into a whole group of city activists,” he says.Īnyone who has spent time in the Colombian capital will have experienced the perils of the city’s loose paving slabs – especially when it rains. Now the action has morphed into a movement, Empecemos – or Let’s Begin – and Nicolas and friends are not just making Bogotá’s street hazards visible to pedestrians but hoping to shame local authorities into fixing them. Soon afterwards, Nicolás started marking loose tiles with a black cross to help prevent others from getting injured on Bogotá’s broken streets. Colombia’s paving rebellion began when an elderly woman fell over after treading on a loose tile in Nicolás’s neighbourhood, breaking her wrist. ![]()
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