Mexico City Mayor Gives Free Viagra to Elderly

Among other bizarre pre-election tactics
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 13, 2009 9:24 AM CST
Mexico City Mayor Gives Free Viagra to Elderly
Mexico City's Mayor Manuel Ebrard, left, leaves the offices of the Public Safety Department followed by his former police chief, Joel Ortega.   (AP Photo)

Mexico City’s sexagenarians are getting their groove on, and it’s all thanks to Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, the New York Times reports. With July's elections looming, Ebrard has rolled out a swathe of unconventional programs to improve the city’s quality of life, none more talked about than a program that doles out free Viagra to poor men aged 60 and up.

“Everyone has the right to be happy,” the mayor reasons. “A society that doesn’t care for its senior citizens has no dignity.” Whether or not the pills—or other stunts, like dumping sand at public pools to make artificial beaches, or turning the central square into the world’s biggest ice skating rink—clinch the election for Ebrard, some voters are definitely grateful. “Things have changed,” says one blushing 74-year-old. “Now, I’m able to fulfill my wife.” (More Viagra stories.)

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