Lula is the highest ranked leader in LA; Chávez at the bottom

[ChangoLoa]

Source: El Universal

US President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are the best evaluated leaders in Latin America, whereas Cuban Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez are the worst assessed, a poll conducted by Latinobarómetro found.

Among the main leaders in the survey, where the best ones were ranked 10 and the worst ones 1, Obama got 7, the highest mark, and Lula 6.4, Reuters reported.

King Juan Carlos of Spain got 5.9 and Spanish Head of Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero 5.8.

They were followed by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in the fourth position at 5.8; Colombia's Álvaro Uribe 5.4, and Uruguayan Tabaré Vázquez 5.3.

Read more: http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/12/11/en_pol_esp_latinobarometro-poll_11A3179971.shtml

[ret5hd]

1. Well, that certainly doesn't say much for Chavez's opponents, does it!!!

on edit: :rofl:

[Warpy]

2. And this is surprising why?

Lula is a leftist who moves the country in that direction while keeping a relatively low profile. Chavez has reformed in a hamfisted manner, his land reforms being bottlenecked by incompetent paper pushers, peasants with new land unable to plant it because they're unable to get the loans they need for seed and equipment because their paperwork has been stalled for 3 years or more. Meanwhile, Venezuela imports nearly all of its food and Chavez's main job looks like self promotion.

Lula is unglamourous and effective. Chavez is a flashy leader who likely is setting real reform back many years by not streamlining bureaucracy and planting his boot in the banker's arses, crushing hopes.

Give me a plodder who is willing to do all the donkey work behind the scenes. I'll leave the flashy leaders to the people who think they need them and hope those old boys stay in the churches, not the government.

[EFerrari]

10. Chavez and Lula play "good cop, bad cop". They're good friends.

And you're right about the banking sector. I don't know if you caught this but the boot has been planted. There's a huge shake up right now.

[ChangoLoa]

12. Sad

We behave like an oil-rich spoiled country with a TV showman at its head. Changing his mind about the shape and priorities of his policy every two weeks, personified as "the people" and surrounded by an inefficient, corrupted milieu of military-businessmen. At least the dogmatic and sometimes reactionary pseudo-left still believes we're a paradigm... thanks for their support.

We still have the promise of social justice, government accountability and civic participation, written in the Revolution's Constitution of 2000. Maybe someday we'll actually try to follow its logic.

[Braulio]

25. What Revolution?

The bombast and hot air coming out of Venezuela are really funny. There was no "revolution". Chavez and his communist side kicks won elections to get in power, and they're using the ballot box to change laws, behave like children, and in the process destroy the country's economy. They have no revolution, but they sure like to romanticize. I guess Chavez never got over his military past, and is always thinking as if he were running around wielding a gun.

[fascisthunter]

3. and?

wtf

[EFerrari]

5. BoRev has a hilarious post about these headlines: He called it exactly.

Colombians Hate Democracy (and Other Stories That Will Never Be Written From the 2009 Latinobarometro Survey)



Every year, the venerable old Chilean polling firm Latinobarometro publishes the world's most comprehensive survey of Latin American perceptions, with a handy country-by-country breakdown. And every year, we take a look at what the data actually says about Venezuela and then have a good laugh over whatever retarded nugget of information the U.S. press glommed onto as this year's "angle"

http://www.borev.net/2009/12/every_year_the_venerable_old.html

[ChangoLoa]

7. According to venerable Latinobarometro, Chavez support dropped to 45% IN Venezuela

[EFerrari]

8. So he's polling about the same as Obama is here.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Another national poll indicates public approval for the job Barack Obama is doing as U.S. president fell below 50 percent.

A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday indicated Obama had the lowest approval rating so far in his presidency -- 46 percent, Politico reported.

Also released Wednesday was a poll by Public Policy Polling, which pegged Obama's approval rating at 47 percent and included the commentary "44 percent (of respondents said) they'd rather have his predecessor," George W. Bush.

A Gallup daily tracking poll this week showed Obama's approval rating slid to 47 percent, while a CNN poll released last week showed Obama's rating at 48 percent.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/10/Polls-show-Obama-approval-rating-slide/UPI-72131260461102/

Seriously, I want to see all the best Chavez headlines. BoRev is having a contest. :hi:

[ChangoLoa]

13. Right, Chavez's support dropped in the country... it's simple.

I'm not talking about another poll, just Latinobarometro. I usually trust their indicators. It's not an alarmist or surprising headline, it's very simple. Easy to understand why, too. And easy to understand why Bo(livarian)Rev(olution).net tries to spin this news...

[EFerrari]

14. BoRev is talking about spin, not spinning.

But you know that. :)

[fascisthunter]

15. oh well

it's funny

[UTUSN]

4. Welcome to DU. And here is your Survival Kit with this type of topic:

1- Be prepared to present credentials as a genuine Democratic supporter. Or, really, whether you are Democratic ENOUGH.

2- Your motives are likely to be impugned.

3- Your source links will be called CIA-DLC-wingnut stooges and fronts.

4- You will be said to be reciting freeper talking points.

5- You will be ridiculed, sneered at, told you are ignorant and mentally impaired, and many other things.

6- Your O.P.s along these lines will INSTANTLY be UnReKKKed about, oh, 15-30 times over. INSTANTLY, I say!1 (I already got you back from UnReKKK territory FOR NOW, by Rec-ing, but my Rec power is used up, so it's all downhill from here!1) Oh, and you've been moved from LBN already.


Free pre-damage control relations advice: On a forum other than LBN-- such as the Latin America or GD-- you might post a long O.P. detailing your placement on the political spectrum, what candidates you have supported, ... you get the picture: Just justify your ENTIRE EXISTENCE and be done with it.

[1monster]

9. Just got the rec up to TWO. K and R

[UTUSN]

17. It's back to naught.

Manuel Zelaya talks on his mobile phone within the Brazilian embassy while his white cowboy hat is held by a bodyguard, Boris Muños. Photograph: Esteban Felix/AP

[acsmith]

21. LOL

THIS IS THE BEST APPRAISAL OF DU I HAVE EVER SEEN.

[onehandle]

6. No surprise. They know Chávez better than his 'fans' here in the U.S. nt

[ChangoLoa]

11. His fans should come to Venezuela and have a look for themselves

Instead of acting like they actually know how things work and happen in the country.

[Marthian]

16. Fidel Castro

is NOT the leader of Cuba.

[AlphaCentauri]

18. The anti chavez crowd never knew about Venezuela before Chavez

do they know if it is better with chavez?

[Braulio]

23. Chavez has been in power 10 years, right?

Since Chavez has been in power for 10 years, it seems the pre-Chavez period is fading from view. Whatever it was, one can ask, rather than what it was, what could have been? I know this may strike you as odd, but I tend to believe Venezuela had a problem with too much population growth before Chavez, and the problem continues. The other ills they had, they seem to have now, to one degree or another. Corruption is bad, crime is a lot higher, the health system is a mess, and inflation is at a record high. Democracy has been eroded. Overall, I'd say Chavez is flunking.

[LeftishBrit]

19. While I know most people here will be thinking of this mainly in terms of 'for or against Chavez'..

I would like to give it a kick for LULA!

I have some Brazilian friends, whom I first met in 1986. They had spent much of their lives under some military dictatorship or another. The last one had finally gone the year before: Joao Figuereido. An anti-democracy tyrant, whose sayings included "I prefer the smell of my horses than that of the people" and "The people are a beast of burden you pull by the reins." Yes, this man left office in 1985, not around 1785 as one might have suspected. In their first democratic election they had voted for a good man, Tancredo Neves, who had immediately become very ill, and died before he could take office. It was not at *all* clear whether democracy would survive and there were some anxious times - but it did, and now they have a decent person like Lula as president, a former trade union leader elected to office less than 20 years after the departure of someone who regarded the people as 'beasts of burden'.

Sometimes political miracles do happen; and more have happened in Latin America than many other parts of the world ... e.g. Chile going from a Pinochet to a Bachelet.

ETA: Sorry, thought this was still on GD - it's been moved. I don't think that everyone on *this* forum will only think about it in terms of Chavez!

[EFerrari]

20. Lula gets a kick from me.

:)

[Vidar]

22. Most agree that Lula is spectacular, not to mention hes' a friend of Chavez.

[Braulio]

24. Lula loves Chavez

Of course Lula loves Chavez, he has been able to secure a lot of no-bid contracts for Brazilian firms. It's a really slick trick, they sign "government to government" deals, then Lula flips the contract to Odebretch or another Brazilian firm. It's gravy, and the Brazilians are laughing their way to the bank.

Chavez lives in a quaint little world where communist countries deal government to government making deals, and dreams there's no private industry. This of course is just a would be communist's dream - reality is a lot different.