Popularity of Colombian president drops to 33%

After 1 year as president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro has 33% approval, according to polling firm invade. Disapproval stood at 61%.

According to the survey, the popularity of the Colombian leader fell by more than 20 percentage points from August 2022, when he took office, until June 2023.

In October 2022, just 2 months after taking over at Casa de Nariño –the seat of the Colombian government–, Petro’s positive assessment had already dropped 10 percentage points and closed below 50%. However, the disapproval rate was still lower.

From February to June 2023, the numbers for Colombia’s 1st left-wing president continued the same trend, and disapproval grew by 10 percentage points.

The Invamer survey was carried out in 5 cities in Colombia: Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Bucaramanga. In total, 1,200 people were randomly interviewed in order to maintain the impartiality of responses.

Since arriving at the presidency, on August 7, 2022, Petro has replaced 10 of the 19 ministers. His critics say that one of the causes for these changes is the president’s disorganization. The management of the left-wing ruler also faces great difficulties in getting Congress to approve his proposals for labor, social security and health reforms.

According to the report, insecurity, the high cost of living, the economy and corruption are the problems that most concern Colombians.

Petro’s negative assessment grows as the ramifications of the scandal involving his son Nicolás Petro are revealed.

On July 29, Nicolás, who is also a state representative, was taken, accused of money laundering and illicit enrichment. He allegedly received money from drug traffickers in exchange for including them in Gustavo Petro’s peace talks.

Nicolás’ ex-wife, Daysuris Vásquez, was also arrested, accused of money laundering and violation of personal data. In March, she gave an interview to the magazine Week and accused her ex-husband of pocketing campaign donations from people linked to drug trafficking groups.

According to the Colombian newspaper The viewerNicolas would have confessed that the money was used in his father’s presidential campaign.

On August 3, the Colombian president denied that he knew of the irregular use of money in his campaign. “I never took my children to crime. I would never favor the crime of any of them.”, stated Petro.

Gustavo Petro also faces a corruption scandal, which began after the Week published audios from the former Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, about alleged illegal contributions to Petro’s campaign. The messages would have been forwarded to the president’s chief of staff, Laura Sarabia.

After the backlash, Sarabia and Benedetti resigned from their positions. The audio mentions an amount of approximately US$ 3.5 million (R$ 17.2 million) allegedly donated to the campaign in an irregular manner.

“The audios of ‘Revista Semana’ were manipulated. I apologize to President Gustavo Petro and Laura Sarabia for the aggression. The attack does not come from me, he wrote Armando Benedetti on his Twitter profile.

The audios of @RevistaSemana they have been manipulated. I apologize to the president @petrogustavo already @laurisarabia for the aggression and the malicious attack that does NOT come from me.

— Armando Benedetti (@AABenedetti) June 5, 2023