By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, July 14 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, bruised by a political scandal, saw his disapproval rating hit a high of 27 percent in an Invamer Gallup poll published on Saturday.

As the scandal grew, linking some of Uribe's closest congressional allies to paramilitary death squads, the survey showed a 9-point rise in Colombians who do not like the way the president is doing his job.

His popularity rating sank to a still relatively strong 66 percent, compared with 75 percent in a Invamer Gallop poll taken in April. Most Colombians like Uribe's tough security policies, which have reduced urban crime rates, sparked foreign investment and helped the economy.

But the paramilitary scandal, known locally as "para-politics," deepened on Wednesday when the Supreme Court opened an investigation into Uribe's first cousin, Senator Mario Uribe.

"People see para-politics as corruption," said pollster Jorge Londono.

The poll of 1,000 people, carried out July 6-8, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Uribe's standing overseas has also been hurt as a handful of his allies in Congress have been jailed along with his former security chief, who is accused of providing a death list of union leaders to the paramilitaries.

Colombia has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid to crack down on the drug trade, but the U.S. Congress is toughening conditions on aid and putting off voting on a trade pact over human rights concerns.

The paramilitaries, formed in the 1980s to help protect drug lords and cattle ranchers from left-wing rebels, entered Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine business themselves and became notorious for massacring suspected leftists.

Another negative factor for Uribe were the deaths last month of 11 provincial lawmakers who had been held hostage by the rebels since 2002, the poll showed.

The rebel army known as the FARC said the 11 died in cross-fire when their secret jungle prison was attacked. The government accuses the rebels of murdering the hostages.

"The death of the 11 lawmakers showed that the FARC is still very much a threat," Londono said. "The public wants to see more results in the struggle against the guerrillas."

AlertNet news is provided by