Colombian president's approval dips precipitously

BOGOTA, Colombia

The approval rating of Colombian President Ivan Duque is at its lowest since taking office in August 2018, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The survey shows 71% of the country disapproves of the president's performance. His approval plummeted amid accusations of the government's inability to provide safety to social leaders being killed.

A recent controversy sparked by anti- abortion statements by the president has the government walking a tightrope, too.

Social leader killings

The killings of social leaders have become a political headache for right-wing Duque, accused of turning his back on social leaders and failing to implement a peace agreement with the FARC rebel group signed in 2016.

According to research and advocacy group Indepaz, 837 social leaders, human rights activists and former FARC rebels were killed between January 2016 and May 2019. And the numbers keep rising.

In response to an op-ed published Feb. 27 by the Washington Post newspaper in which Duque talked about the burden of 1.7 million Venezuelans who recently immigrated to Colombia, the Washington Office on Latin America Director for the Andes, Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, accused Duque of failing to address the wave of killings.

“The international community must also take note of a pressing issue conveniently not mentioned by Mr. Duque: the systematic killing of social activists and human rights defenders in Colombia,” wrote Sanchez-Garzoli. “Mr. Duque’s administration has failed to address threats against social leaders, identify the intellectual authors of these killings and implement key points of the Colombia peace accords.”

Sanchez-Garzoli said as long as Duque is unable to protect the peace agreements, he will not be able to care for immigrants who enter the country in a vulnerable situation.

“If Mr. Duque’s government can’t commit to protecting the very people it needs to sustain Colombia’s long-sought-after peace, how will it fare in providing for the security of Venezuelans in vulnerable situations?,” she said.

Abortion

Abortion has also been a thorny issue for Duque. On Feb. 19, he questioned whether Colombia was ready to fully legalize abortion ahead of a debate by the top court, which made many wonder why the president was indirectly intervening in decisions made by the high court regarding abortion.

"I am a pro-life person, who believes that life begins at conception,” he said.

The Constitutional Court ruled March 2 to maintain the current abortion law, which allows a pregnancy to be terminated under three specific situations: a risk to the mother's life, a deformity of the fetus and if the pregnancy was a result of rape.

Duque welcomed the ruling and praised magistrates for making “an important decision.”

The ruling ended weeks of debate whether to expand abortion rights. Reform advocates vocalized concerns about barriers experienced by women seeking abortions.