Weekly Report - 11 July 2024 (WR-24-27)

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro suffered a setback this week when his proposal for a constituent assembly to redraft the constitution met with resounding opposition. Petro appeared to calculate that the appointment of a new interior minister in the form of moderate veteran Juan Fernando Cristo of the centre-left Partido Liberal (PL) to preside over negotiations to forge a national accord behind the idea [WR-24-26] would win over those that had responded with such hostility when he first raised the possibility of a constituent assembly in March. That has not proven to the case.