Colombia’s Petro is more popular today than ever before

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In politics, the time from the beginning of a newly elected president’s term, when all his actions are well-received, to when he strikes his first blow is called the “honeymoon period.”

The time may be longer or shorter. This is partly due to the wear and tear left by the outgoing president. Gustavo Petro began his phase even before he began to govern. His first steps and turn to the center have dissuaded many from the projected image.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Gustavo Petro

The Castro-Chavism attributed to the candidate is no longer used for the president-elect and has little to do with some of the personalities who will form the next cabinet, well-known and respected politicians with great experience and moderate sentiments. In the latest semi-annual poll, Petro’s approval rating rose to 64 percent, 22 points higher than in February.

“He has proven to be much less radical and polarizing than before. He has sent messages of unity, listened to his former political opponents, and launched a pending social agenda,” says Eugenie Richard, a professor, and researcher at the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

She believes Petro’s position on the Truth Commission report – which he accepted, unlike Iván Duque – the meeting with Uribe, the ministers elected so far, and announcements such as the tax on sugary drinks are highly symbolic. “They mark a style of government that is different from that of the predecessors, with its own agenda, which is more social,” he adds.

The numbers speak for themselves: petro has never been more popular in Colombia. This is its all-time high. In 2011, when he was about to be appointed mayor of Bogotá, he reached 59%. Moreover, his disapproval rating had dropped to 22%, down 18 points from March, when the primaries were held, and the campaign began. So far, there has been only good news.

He has put a respected economist like José Antonio Ocampo, a Harvard and Yale professor, at the head of the economy; he has put the respected Cecilia López in charge of agrarian reform, a hornet’s nest; he has placed the conservative Álvaro Leyva at the head of the Foreign Ministry and the progressive intellectual Alejandro Gaviria at the head of the Education Ministry. In general, all of these appointments were also well received by the opposition.

Petro and his advisors knew they had to defuse ‘petrophobia’ to win the presidency. For two decades, the dominant political discourse had been conservative, and from that and from some of the overtures he had made to the traditional Latin American left, he earned the reputation as an extremist with which he went to the polls in 2018.

He was then defeated by Iván Duque, the candidate nominated by Álvaro Uribe. In those four years, the failed conservative government has made him the favorite to be the next president. The social outbursts of the last year showed that change was needed. Petro championed it, although he still faced strong opposition in some sectors.

In the last 18 months, he has dramatically improved his image and has come closer to the idea of a leader that Colombians, a very presidential country, have. He won by a very narrow margin over Rodolfo Hernández and was aware from the beginning that a large part of the country was against him.

That is why, in his first speech as election winner, he addressed those who had not voted for him, saying that he would be president of Colombia and not of either Colombia. Considering the election results, the speech prevailed.

For analyst Jorge Restrepo, Petro has been able to read the political moment. “He has an enormous personal capacity to interpret the needs of citizens and represent them in public discourse; a capacity that has been recognized by his opponents.

And he explains that he embodies the need for change in political leaders and the political system because he represents a group of people who have not had access to it before,” he explains. He says this must now translate into a service-oriented relationship between citizens and leaders. “We’ll see how well that works. On August 7, he will take office, and the moment of truth will begin.

With information from El Pais

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