Colombia: Mayor sorry for Women's Day event strippers
A Colombian mayor has apologised for hiring two male strippers to perform at an International Women's Day event, it's reported.
Alfredo Garcia, mayor of the central town of Anzoategui, says he didn't realise that organisers planned to book the strippers when he signed off on the event. "It was a big mistake, and inappropriate for Women's Day. I signed the contract but didn't know what the show consisted of," he's quoted as saying on the El Tiempo website. "To be honest, I was completely unaware that muscular men would dance in their underwear."
The mayor is now facing complaints from many quarters. Families with children were in attendance at the event in the town square, and one mother tells the website the choice of entertainment was "vulgar". The local ombudsman says the event cost 14m pesos ($5,300; £3,500), cash he says would have been better spent on the town's pressing social needs. And the Colombian Institute of Social Welfare has called for an investigation over whether having children at the event was a violation of the country's Code of Childhood and Adolescence, according to the El Espectador news website.
But according to Mr Garcia, the half-naked dancing didn't last long, and not everyone was displeased with the event. "Half the town was upset, but another part was very happy with the party," he says.
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