Colombia: Ex-Guerrilla President Gustavo Petro Hits Record-High 57% Disapproval

Far-left Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s disapproval rating reached 57 percent this week, its highest point so far, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Colombian survey agency Invamer released on Wednesday.

Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 guerilla, took office in August, becoming the first leftist president in the history of Colombia. His disapproval ratings have jumped from 20 percent during his first month in office to 52 percent during the start of his ninth month in office.

The results of the survey, conducted between April 14-24, were published hours after the far-left president reshuffled his cabinet of ministers and announced the breaking of his government’s alliance with other Colombian political parties that gave his administration a majority of votes in the Colombian Congress — just as discussion of Petro’s controversial health reform is set to begin at the Colombian parliament.

As part of its survey, Invamer asked, “Do you think things in Colombia are getting better or worse?” Seventy-three percent of respondents answered that the situation in the country has worsened, with only 16 percent answering that they believe things are getting better.

Respondents described unemployment, public order, and corruption as the top three problems that Colombia currently faces. When asked about insecurity and crime, 84 percent answered that the situation has worsened.

Colombian political analyst Gabriel Cifuentes told Caracol TV that the results reflect that Petro’s positive image is on a significant decline. 

“There is a trend in which the image of President Gustavo Petro has been deteriorating; we see that there is a significant decline, there is beginning to be an erosion, which is very early because he has only been in government for eight months,” Cifuentes said.

Aumentó la desaprobación del presidente Petro: pasó de 51% en febrero a 57% en abril, según la encuesta Invamer. La aprobación cayó del 40% al 35%. Lo analizamos con Gabriel Cifuentes.

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— Noticias Caracol (@NoticiasCaracol) April 27, 2023

Invamer noted that the survey did not reflect the current government crisis in Petro’s administration after the far-left president ordered the resignation of his entire cabinet, given the dates the survey was conducted during.

The poll also revealed that Petro’s vice president, Francia Márquez, saw her disapproval rating dramatically jump from 29 percent in February to 52 percent in April.

The Colombian vice president was heavily criticized in March for her continued daily use of a helicopter to transport herself from her workplace to her luxury residence in Dapa, a Colombian village in the west central Valle del Cauca region.

Márquez has defended her use of air transportation by claiming an explosive artifact had been found en route to her residence in January. Colombian authorities, following an extensive investigation, did not find an explosive device but identified the object as a plastic bottle with some cables.

Estimates indicate that Márquez’s use of Colombian aircraft vehicles has, so far, incurred taxpayer expenses of roughly 2.8 billion Colombian pesos (roughly $602,000).

In December, Márquez demanded that United Nations member-states provide “reparations” for Afro-descendants and African people in the name of “racial justice.”

The administration of the now largely disliked far-left president seeks to enact a series of reforms to Colombia’s work, healthcare, and pensions systems that has been met with fierce rejection from thousands of Colombians, who have taken to the streets in several opportunities to peacefully protest his proposed reforms.

Petro, who has openly defended cocaine as insignificantly dangerous, also maintains a fierce campaign against the use of fossil fuels despite oil and coal being some of Colombia’s top exports. Petro has declared oil and gas more poisonous than cocaine. The far-left President, who wants to put Colombia on a “green” path, proposed a series of “commandments” to fight climate change that call for an immediate end to the use of fossil fuels and a series of wealth redistribution programs in exchange for “climate action.”

Petro discussed his proposals with President Joe Biden during his official visit to the United States last week.

Petro’s record disapproval ratings come at a time when a commission in the nation’s Congress narrowly approved to discuss Petro’s health reform proposal by a one-vote difference. The Colombian Congress will begin the proceedings to discuss the contents of the proposal article by article. 

The controversial health reform aims to bring sweeping changes to Colombia’s healthcare system, giving the state a larger role while greatly diminishing the current functions of private healthcare providers.

The health reform and Petro’s other proposals have prompted the Colombian opposition to take to the streets and peacefully protest across the nation’s main cities on several occasions. The latest round of peaceful protests took place last weekend.

Prior to last weekend’s peaceful protests, Colombians also protested against Petro in February, November, October, and September.

Petro removed now-former Health Minister Carolina Corcho, a vocal promoter of the controversial health reform, as part of his cabinet reshuffle, replacing her with Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.