MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's Bachelet, the most popular Latam leader...in Spain

Although Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and the ruling coalition are facing growing challenges for Spain's public opinion she' the most popular leader that side of the Atlantic according to the latest Latinbarometro 2007 report.

At the other end figure three of the Americas most demonized leaders: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Cuba's Fidel Castro and United States George Bush. In a 0 to 10 rating scale Chavez figures with 1.27 points; Fidel Castro, 1.89 and their archenemy US president Bush, 1.99. However Spaniards are not very generous in their opinions about Latinamerican leaders because even when Mrs. Bachelet has the highest ranking she figures with a modest 4.93 out of 10 potential points. Bachelet is followed by Brazil's Lula da Silva with 4.61; Colombia's Alvaro Uribe with 4.4 and then Argentine former president Nestor Kirchner, 4.22. The list continues with Mexico's Felipe Calderon, 4.10; Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez, 4.06; Ecuador's Rafael Correa, 4; Peruvian president Alan Garcia, 3.93 and Evo Morales from Bolivia, 3.42. Latinbarometro is a public opinion poll which fathoms political and social attitudes in Latin America and Spain and is published annually by the Spanish Center for Sociological Research.