The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has the approval of 49.7 percent of Colombians at the end of the first hundred days of his historic mandate, the first in the country of a left-wing president. The survey by the consulting firm Invamer shows that almost half of Colombians expressed a positive opinion of the president’s management, for which reason Petro’s approval rose 3.7 percentage points in relation to October. The so-called “total peace” policywith which the president intends to negotiate with armed groups of all kinds, is the most popular government proposal, rising to 51.2 percent.
Petro assumed the Executive in August of this year after winning the May elections against the right-wing Iván Duque, who ended his government with a 27 percent approval rating. Since he came to power, Petro launched the total peace initiative that seeks to end the armed conflict in Colombia and became the pillar of his government. At least in the first hundred days of his government, which are celebrated this Tuesday, he managed to make his commitment advance by leaps and bounds.
With the reform of the Public Order Law, which empowers Petro to carry out negotiations with different armed actors, it is expected that the dialogue table with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a guerrilla that was the first to join the Petro peace project. The initiative promoted by the progressive leader places civil society at the center of the commitment, understanding it as the victim and main connoisseur of the war.
The government announced that formal talks with the ELN will resume before the end of November., since that guerrilla “has its negotiating team ready,” according to Petro himself. While the place where the table will be installed is specified, which apparently will be Havana, Cuba, other armed actors continue to join the idea of total peace and there are already more than five large criminal gangs, among which are the Clan del Golfo, the Office, the Caparros and the Pachencas.