Petro’s disapproval is close to 60% and his communication on Twitter is disapproved

By Daniel Salazar Castellanos

The approval of Colombian President Gustavo Petro fell again in May.

The results were published amid a new crisis in the Government due to the alleged illegal interceptions of the nanny of the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Laura Sarabia Torres.

President Gustavo Petro’s administration is now approved by 33.8% of Colombians surveyed by Invamer, while 59.4% disapprove of it.

Petro’s approval in Colombia fell 16.2 percentage points compared to the November survey.

The survey’s margin of error is +/- 2.83%, and the confidence limits are 95%, with a sample of 1,200 surveys conducted between May 26 and 29, 2023.

Disapproval of Gustavo Petro’s Government is concentrated in the coffee region (65.8%), followed by the central-eastern region (64.2%), Bogota (59.2%), the southwestern region (55.2%) and the northern Caribbean (51.9%).

Likewise, it is concentrated in the highest socioeconomic strata of the country since its disapproval in strata 4, 5, and 6 is 65.5%.

Meanwhile, in strata 1 and 2, it is 58.2%, and in strata 3, it is 61.3%.

Colombians also responded to whether they agreed or disagreed with President Gustavo Petro’s communication via Twitter.

54.9% disagreed, 38.4% agreed, and 6.7% did not know or did not answer.

Last year, a text by JPMorgan economists Ben Ramsey and Gisela Brant noted that President Gustavo Petro’s tweets “have added significant volatility to Colombian markets.”

“Colombia’s challenging macroeconomic situation leaves it vulnerable to concerns of policy mistakes, especially at a time of rising global risks and Colombia’s large external financing requirements.”

“We believe this justifies re-entering some bearish positions,” the experts said.

In the Invamer survey, 60.9% said that they do not agree with the reforms announced by the Pent, and 66% consider that they have not felt the change promised by Gustavo Petro in Colombia.

On the other hand, 59.9% of those consulted disapprove of the management of the country’s vice-president, Francia Márquez, and 27.9% approve of it.

IS COLOMBIA ON THE RIGHT TRACK?

• 70.7% of those questioned consider that the country is on the wrong track, and 23.6% consider it is going in the right direction.
• 31.6% believe Colombia’s main problem is the economy, mainly factors such as unemployment and the cost of living.
• 17.6% think it is insecurity, 15.5% corruption, and 12.6% the Government or the president. 19% named other factors.
• 45.7% are negative about the future of Colombia, and 17% are very negative.

NEW SHAKE-UP IN THE GOVERNMENT

After April’s shake-up due to the departure of seven ministers in Colombia, including the head of the Finance Ministry, José Antonio Ocampo, Gustavo Petro’s Government faces a new setback due to a case involving the Chief of Staff of the Presidency.

The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Thursday that it detected the illegal interception of communications with two extra workers of Laura Sarabia Torres’ boss.

“Members of the National Police would have carried out the procedure to establish the possible responsibility of the women in the loss of money in the official’s house,” the entity indicated.

The Prosecutor General’s Office indicated that last January 30, one day after Sarabia Torres and her husband reported the loss of US$4,000, “members of the DIJIN of the National Police prepared a report that indicated the need to tap the phones of the ex-nanny of the Chief of Staff’s son, with the assumption that she would be the cook of alias Siopas, leader of the Jairo de Jesús Durango substructure”.

In addition to “the person who helped in the housework because she would be linked to the logistical component of alias Omar, the second leader of the aforementioned armed group”.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, with this document, “the uniformed officers misled a prosecutor of the Specialized Directorate against Criminal Organizations, based in Chocó, who obtained authorization from a judge to intercept the communications of the two women who had nothing to do with what was stated in the judicial police report”.

With information from Bloomberg

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