Chávez is the most unpopular Latin American ruler, survey says

[Bacchus39]

Chávez is the most unpopular Latin American ruler, survey says

Colombia's Álvaro Uribe (right) ranked first in the list of domestic approval with 85 percent (File Photo)
Politics

According to the Ibero-American Governance Barometer 2008, conducted by the Ibero-American Consortium of Market Research and Consulting and published by Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, Hugo Chávez is the most unpopular president for people in the region, with a 26 percent support.

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was rated as the ruler with the best international image, while Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was selected as the president in Ibero-America with the highest support in his own country.

According to El Tiempo, Lula is the most popular ruler among Ibero-American people (53.8 percent), followed by Chile's Michelle Bachelet (45.9 percent), and Mexico's Felipe Calderón (45.6 percent).

Colombia's Álvaro Uribe ranked first in the list of domestic approval with 85 percent, followed by Brazil's Lula da Silva and Uruguay's Tabaré Vásquez (67 percent each), and Hugo Chávez (54 percent).

http://english.eluniversal.com/2008/10/14/en_pol_art_chavez-is-the-most-u_14A2068923.shtml

[Texano78704]

1. Wow...

Considering that Hugo Chávez´s rating is more than double that of BushCo, that´s not too bad. And a rating of 85% seems incredulous.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. So a Colombian survey taken by a newspaper owned by the family of

Uribe's vice-president lists Uribe as the most popular leader in Latin America?

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

[Bacchus39]

3. it was neither a Colombian survey nor conducted by El Tiempo

it was REPORTED by El Tiempo and is a survey of opinions of leaders across the region. thus, for example, while Chavez has a decent home approval rating, residents of other countries think he is a pendejo.

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. That seems rather odd, considering he's helping them massively in their struggle

for democracy and the most elementary economic justice. Can you furnish the alleged reasons for their antipathy?

[struggle4progress]

5. So "Ibero-American Governance Barometer" did some poll in April -- and just published

the results now? That's . um . odd ...

Does the Ibero-American Governance Barometer have any history or is this some sort of one-hit wonder?

According to the Ibero-American Governance Barometer of 2008 — a poll conducted in April ... http://www.as-coa.org/article.php?id=1290

[struggle4progress]

6. 85% domestic approval is remarkable, considering he rules over a death-squad state

with a large displaced indigenous population

The last "survey" I saw like this was a telephone survey for the four major cities: it wouldn't have reached barrio dwellers but would have reached comfortable households

I also wonder how I might react to a phone call Do you support President Uribe, if I actually knew people who had been dumped dead in ditched with their faces mutilated or guts ripped out: I suspect I'd either say "Who is the President? I don't really follow politics" or else rave about how great the Presuident was, lest I be dead next

After more than forty years of internal armed conflict, Colombia has one of the largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world. Well over two million people have been forced to flee their homes; many of them have left remote rural areas to take refuge in the relative safety of the cities.

Displaced families often end up living in slum areas on the outskirts of the big cities, where they lack even the most basic services. Just outside Bogota, tens of thousands of displaced people live in the shantytowns of Altos de Cazuca and Altos de Florida, with little access to health, education or decent housing. Security is a problem too, with irregular armed groups and gangs controlling the shantytowns, often targeting young people ... http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/photos?set=colombia2006

[Judi Lynn]

7. Bravo! Exquisite sense you're making. Who, indeed, would answer a call from a stranger

asking what he/she thinks of the President, and say, "You know, that crooked, slimy little bully is going to run out of luck one day, and I will dance in the streets."

That wouldn't happen a second time.

You're so right. The 2nd largest group of displaced people IN THE WORLD, the 2nd largest humanitarian crisis after Sudan can't be reached for phone polls, can they? Probably not. No opinions coming from those people who've been forcibly thrown off their own land.

[Judi Lynn]

8. New Report from Amnesty relates to your post:More face abuse & death as Colombia denies human rights

More face abuse and death as Colombia's government denies human rights situation

28 October 2008

The Colombian government is in denial about the country's human rights situation, according to a new Amnesty International report.

Leave us in peace! Targeting civilians in Colombia's internal armed conflict says that despite increasing reports of forced internal displacement, attacks against social and human rights activists and killings by security forces, Colombian authorities are attempting to paint a positive picture.

The authorities even refuse to admit there's an armed conflict in their country. "It's impossible to solve a problem without admitting there is one," says Marcelo Pollack, Colombia researcher at Amnesty International. "Denial only condemns more people to abuse and death."

The most comprehensive up-to-date study on the state of human rights in Colombia, the report is the culmination of in situ research between 2006 and 2008. It recounts the stories of those individuals and communities hardest hit by the conflict, including members of afro-descendant, indigenous and campesino (rural small-scale farming) communities killed or displaced from their homes.

The report also documents the stories of victims of kidnappings; women and girls raped; children recruited by paramilitary and guerrilla groups or maimed by landmines; communities taking an active stand to defend their right not to be drawn into the conflict; and human rights defenders and trade unionists whose work in defence of human rights has cost them their lives.

At least 1,400 civilians were killed in 2007. This figure is up from 1,300 in 2006. Of the cases where the perpetrator is known, the security forces were responsible for at least 330 of these, the paramilitaries for around 300 and guerrillas for about 260.

As many as 305,000 Colombians were displaced in 2007, compared with 220,000 in 2006. At least 190 people were victims of either enforced disappearances by the security forces and paramilitaries or missing following abductions by guerrilla groups in 2007. This figure was up from around 180 in 2006.

The report shows that while some human rights indicators – such as kidnappings and the security situation in some cities – have improved in recent years, many others have deteriorated.

It also debunks statements repeated by the Colombian government, such as paramilitary groups no longer operate, human rights abusers are held to account and the work of social activists and trade unionists is being fully respected.

"For over 40 years, Colombians have been trapped in one of the worst, forgotten conflicts in the world, attacked by the security forces, paramilitaries and guerrilla groups, while the government fails to take any meaningful action to protect them," said Marcelo Pollack.

"To reverse Colombia's tragic reality the government and guerrilla groups must once and for all remove the civilian population from the conflict."

Colombia's internal armed conflict has pitted the security forces and paramilitaries against guerrilla groups since the mid-1960s. It has been marked by extraordinary levels of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), with civilians by far the principal victims - tens of thousands have been killed, with thousands more subjected to enforced disappearance by the security forces, paramilitaries or guerrilla groups.

The effect of such abuses has been to create one of the world's greatest crises of displaced people; between 3 and 4 million Colombians are thought to have fled their homes to escape the violence. These crimes bear witness to the disregard shown by all parties to the conflict for international human rights and humanitarian law.

Amnesty International is calling on all parties to the Colombian conflict to demonstrate the political will to end human rights abuses. The organization also urges the international community to make greater efforts to ensure that both sides of the conflict respect the human rights of Colombians.

Date Published: 28 October 2008

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/colombias-government-denies-human-rights-situation-20081028

[Bacchus39]

9. before and Uribe versus after

you may want to consider that factor as well. and the poverty and conditions in Bogota is certainly no worse than say in Caracas, Rio, Quito