The approval rating of Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos has dropped to a record low days after the International Court of Justice ruled Colombia has to surrender 30,000 square miles of its Caribbean territory to Nicaragua, a pollster said Thursday.
According to a poll carried out by Colombian pollster Ipsos Napoleon Franco, the president can count on the approval of no more than 45% of interviewed Colombians. 49% of the respondents said to disapprove of Santos.
The most recent poll showed a steep drop from the 60% approval rating measured by the pollster in September.
Santos’ drop was widely attributed to last week’s ruling by the ICJ that granted Colombia sovereignty over its islands in the western Caribbean but reduced the country’s maritime territory. Ironically, inhabitants of the island of San Andres were more positive about the president than their compatriots on the mainland.