MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bush and Chavez in the same bag: worst regional image

United States president George Bush and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez are the regional leaders with the worst image, according to a public opinion poll published this week end in the influential Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo.

Bush had the worst rating according to the Ipsos polling institute contracted by the Brazilian newspaper and which included citizens from six Latinamerican countries and referred to eleven leaders of the region. The US president only received 21% support but accumulated a 64% rejection. His Venezuelan colleague had 45% negative image and 38% positive. Chavez collected his worst ratings in Bolivia (66% negative); Mexico (66% negative) and Brazil (48%) while in Venezuela he proved to have a 65% support and 27% rejection. Chile's Michelle Bachelet managed a 40% positive image and 20% negative. Cuba's Fidel Castro was the third ranked in the hate list with rejection reaching 42% and a positive 36%. Castro has most supporters in Ecuador (47% positive) and Venezuela (44% positive) while his worst standing is in Mexico (62% negative) and in Bolivia (56%). The Latinamerican leader best ranked was Brazil's Lula da Silva who managed a 56% positive image and 20% negative. He ranked best in Bolivia (67%), Venezuela (60%) but had his worst showing at home with 30% negative and 59% positive image. The opinion poll was done last July and included residents in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela.