After wiretapping scandal, Colombia’s Petro sees popularity plummet

A recently uncovered wiretapping scandal involving two high-ranking officials close to President Gustavo Petro’s circle of power has hit Colombia like a bomb. Besides forcing a third partial cabinet reshuffle in less than a year, the crisis has caused the left-wing president’s popularity to plummet to its lowest level since he took office last August. 

Looking at data from May 30 to June 1, recent polls by Opinómetro showed that only 26 percent of respondents approved of Mr. Petro’s government, while 60 percent expressed reservations about his administration. The government is polling particularly poorly in the capital Bogotá, where disapproval rates top 67 percent. 

The poll also highlights the impact of the recent scandal, with 41 percent of respondents saying their image of the president had worsened after the news broke. 

While the leader may bounce back after the initial shock, the numbers already put him below the approval ratings of other regional left-wing leaders such as Chile’s Gabriel Boric, whose approval ratings also deteriorated significantly in his first year in office.

As The Brazilian Report explained, Mr. Petro’s chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, and Colombia’s ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, both resigned last week amid a bizarre crisis involving polygraphs, wiretapped nannies, and missing cash.

The news came as Mr. Petro was trying to gather forces to push a series of key bills through Congress, including pension, labor, and health care reforms.

Responding to the setbacks and seeking to regain some momentum, Mr. Petro addressed his voters yesterday after a rally in support of him in Bogotá, while denouncing a “soft coup” in Congress to try to stop his proposals.

In an open letter, hundreds of international left-wing politicians and intellectuals — including Baltasar Garzón, Noam Chomsky, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, and Jeremy Corbyn — backed Mr. Petro.

They argue that “regulators, media conglomerates, and the judiciary” are joining forces to stop his reforms and are trying to suspend his congressional allies under false pretenses.

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