Santos Loses Popularity in Colombia


Santos Loses Popularity in Colombia

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' public approval rating plunged to its lowest level since he took office in 2010, a poll released on Wednesday showed, due to a farmers' strike marred by violence and scant progress in peace talks with Marxist rebels.

Just 21 percent of Colombians polled in late August and early September said they had a positive opinion of Santos, down from 48 percent in a similar survey conducted at the end of June, according to the Gallup poll.

The survey was conducted in the middle of a two-week farmers' strike during which media images showed riot police wearing armor confronting workers dressed in ponchos.

Santos, 62, was ridiculed during the early days of the strike for saying it was non-existent and that everything was normal, Reuters reported.

The ongoing dispute, in which farmers have blocked roads to snarl transportation nationwide, has put pressure on the center-right president, who has until November to decide whether to run for a second term.

Farmers complain that free trade accords with the United States and Europe have made it impossible for them to compete with imports, which they say are now less expensive.

The poll - carried out between August 27 and September 2. - showed 72 percent of those surveyed had a negative image of Santos, compared with 44 percent in June. Some 7 percent had no opinion.

Santos took office with an approval rating of 74 percent and maintained decent ratings through the beginning of peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

 

 

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