The
big three: According to a survey conducted by Colombia's
Ibero-American
Consortium of Colombia, U.S. President Barack
Obama,
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and Brazil President
Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva are the most popular leaders in
Latin
America.
But oddly enough, no mention is made of Venezuela
President
Hugo Chavez, who is also rumored to be among the
hemisphere's most popular leaders.
El Tiempo,
Colombia
Survey: Obama
'Most Popular Leader' in the Americas
"U.S.
President Barack Obama has been ranked the most popular leader by the
Ibero-American Poll of Governance, which was conducted in 20 countries of the
Americas. Eighty five percent of Latin American residents in his nation support
him. … in all of the countries, newly inaugurated President Obama was the
winner again, who had on average 70 percent support."
Translated By Miguel Gutierrez
April 17, 2009
Colombia - El Tiempo - Original Article
(Spanish)
The president of the United
States, Barack Obama, has been ranked the most popular leader [among Latin Americans] by the Ibero-American
Poll of Governance, which was conducted in 20 countries of the Americas.
The poll was
conducted by the Ibero-American Consortium and coordinated by the National
Consulting Center in Bogota, which has conducted the survey since 1992.
In the case of the President
Obama, 85 percent of Latin American residents in his nation support him.
Then there's
[Colombian] President Álvaro Uribe, whose management 74 percent of Colombians
approve of. This is just a point higher than Brazilian President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva.
So it is that
these three chief executives arrive with the highest ratings at the Fifth Summit
of the Americas, being held from Friday to Sunday at Port of Spain, the capital
of Trinidad and Tobago. Thirty four of the continents nations are
participating. Cuba is not.
Unlike the surveys conducted
in previous years, of the twenty leaders people were asked about, twelve had
favorability ratings above 50 percent.
"This shows there is
confidence in these leaders and that today, there is real leadership in the
region," said Carlos Lemoine, president of National Consulting Center, the
creator of the survey.
In the most awaited event of the 5th Summit of the Americas,
President Barack Obama meets President Hugo Chavez. The
meeting, which took place on the first day of the three day
summit that ends Sunday, appears to have gone smoothly.
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Those who aren't doing so
well are the presidents of Nicaragua and Argentina. Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega has only a 35 percent approval among his people, while Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez is at the bottom of the table with just 30
percent.
The results also show that in
all of the countries, there was support for the leaders of other nations
surveyed. And on this point, the winner again was newly inaugurated President
Obama, who garnered an average of 70 percent support.
Second place went
to the Brazilian president with 68.3 percent. President Uribe took sixth place
with 47.8 percent, where the highest level of support came from Venezuela and
Latinos in the United States.
OTHER TOPICS
Latin Americans believe that
corruption, unemployment, the economy and security, in that order, are the
central problems in the region.
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It's clear that in matters of
security, 64 percent of Colombians believe President Uribe is doing things
right (he leads this category). In Argentina, only 4 percent believe the same
of their president [Cristina Fernandez].
And as the
central theme is the economy, the survey asked Latin Americans whether the
economic crisis has had an impact on their lives. Here the Nicaraguan lead the
results as the most affected, with 67 percent responding that the crisis had
impacted them, while in Colombia (12th place) only 42 percent agreed that it
had.
Add to this that 82 percent
of Latin Americans claim that their incomes had been reduced. On this point,
Colombia is ranked 10th, where 61 percent said they now have fewer economic
opportunities.
But despite all this, the
region is optimistic. Fifty percent of Chileans believe that a year from now,
their economic situation will be better than it is now. In Colombia, 45 percent
believe so.
"The people of the
region are as pessimistic as the media headlines would lead one to believe.
People who believe in the future will do better," said Lemoine.
The survey also found that
there is discrimination in Latin America. In Brazil, 72 percent of those
questioned perceive discrimination against people of the Black race, while in
Colombia, 47 percent think so.
Another finding of the survey
is that there is a broad confidence in the region's institutions and
newspapers. In the Dominican Republic, 66 percent of respondents said that they
trusted the print media, while in Colombia, 53 percent said they did.
Among the entities in which
Colombians have less confidence are the banks. Only 48 percent trust them,
while in Dominican Republic the figure is 76 percent.
Other indicators on the
survey of nations that are lagging in this country, is trust in
non-governmental organizations (35 percent), trust in Congress (22 percent) and
in political parties (12 percent).
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[Posted
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