Colombia President Seeks To Defuse Crisis Through Dialogue 05/08/21 AT 6:58 AM Facing anti-government protests that have spiraled into deadly violence, Colombian President Ivan Duque is holding a series of talks with his political foes in search of a way out of the crisis. The right-wing leader -- whose approval rating is just 33 percent -- has faced occasional mass protests since taking office in August 2018. But the current unrest has quickly bubbled into an open challenge to his administration just over a year before his term ends. After meeting on Friday with members of the opposition, Duque tweeted that it was "a great opportunity for dialogue, overcoming differences and without political point-scoring."