PUT json data to Elasticsearch cluster Python

I'm trying to PUT data to an Elasticsearch server. I can manually PUT the data, but I can't seem to automate it.

jsonValue = json.dumps(data).encode('utf8')

req = urllib2.Request("http://[Elastic IP Address]/cities", jsonValue, {'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
req.get_method = lambda: 'PUT'
f = urllib2.urlopen(req)
response = f.read()
f.close()

The error that I am getting:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "import_elastic.py", line 27, in <module>
    f = urllib2.urlopen(req)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 154, in urlopen
    return opener.open(url, data, timeout)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 437, in open
    response = meth(req, response)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 550, in http_response
    'http', request, response, code, msg, hdrs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 475, in error
    return self._call_chain(*args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 409, in _call_chain
    result = func(*args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 558, in http_error_default
    raise HTTPError(req.get_full_url(), code, msg, hdrs, fp)
urllib2.HTTPError: HTTP Error 400: Bad Request

The first value that I am PUTing:

{"name": "Tia Juana River", "country": "US", "alternate": "Rio Tiajuana,Rio Tijuana,R\u00edo Tijuana,Tia Juana River", "long": "-117.12865", "lat": "32.55668", "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles", "id": "3981608", "population": "0"}