MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean president most admired by regional elites

Chilean president Ricardo Lagos is the Latinamerican leader most admired by the “elites” of the region according to an opinion poll from Zogby International contracted by the Business Administration School from the University of Miami and released Sunday by The Miami Herald.

The poll included 523 business, academia, communicators and political leaders from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Peru.

Contrasting with Mr. Lagos, the leader less admired for the influence groups in Latinamerica is United States president George Bush.

According to the opinion poll, Mr. Lagos is described as a pragmatic Socialist who represents the best political alternative for the region.

Mr. Lagos collected 32,1% of opinions, Brazil's Lula da Silva 18,4% and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, 11,7%. The list also shows Mexico's Vicente Fox, 9,2%; Nestor Kirchner from Argentina, 6,9% and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez 5%. The last two places were for Cuban leader Fidel Castro with 2,9% and Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, 1,3%.

In another category US president George Bush had a favourable opinion of 25,2% of interviews and 73,2% negative.

Another non Latinamerican leader included in the opinion poll was Spanish president Rodriguez Zapatero who received the second lowest disapproval rating with 22% behind president Lagos with 15,9%.

The head of the polling company, John Zogby described the results as interesting since "they show a marked distancing of the Latinamerican elites from their traditional admiration towards United States in favour of more moderate social advancement positions".

"We're seeing a new pragmatism, with less emphasis in ideology, based on a new model to imitate in the continent which is Chile", highlighted Mr. Zogby.