Posted on 11/23/2001 12:40:07 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
The net result in both studies: The farther away from Cuba the countries were located, the more positive points Castro gained.
The image of Fidel Castro held by most Latin Americans is largely negative, according to a poll released Tuesday.
According to pollster Sergio Bendixen, who organized the survey, the results demonstrate that Castro's base of support -- including ``young idealists,'' among others -- has dwindled in size and strength throughout the region.
``A political person is measured by results, and after 42 years the results are not there,'' said Carlos Saladrigas, president of Cuba Study Group, the Miami-based organization that commissioned the opinion survey. ``It's a sea change in terms of public opinion, in terms of how Fidel Castro is seen,'' he added.
Earlier polls, however, show much the same results.
The finding comes days before this weekend's Ibero-American Summit in Peru, a forum where Castro has often attracted the lion's share of the attention from the media -- and from other participants, in some cases -- in spite of representing a country at variance with the prevailing democratic currents in the region.
Saladrigas said he hoped that knowledge of the poll would prod Latin American leaders to take a more outspoken position against Castro and the Cuban government.
MESSAGE FOR LEADERS
The message for Latin American leaders who may attend the conference, Saladrigas said: There won't be a backlash from constituents if they decide to take a hard stance against Castro's Cuba.
``It shows that the time for change is here,'' Saladrigas said.
The poll, which has a margin of error of 1 percent, consisted of 10,248 interviews conducted between April and August in Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Guatemala. The U.S. sample was made up of Hispanics in Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
The question related to Castro was simple: Do you have a positive opinion or a negative opinion of Fidel Castro? The poll did not address policy issues such as the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba or Castro's own political views.
The overwhelming majority of respondents -- between 63 and 82 percent -- in seven of the eight countries said they had a negative opinion of Castro -- although his name recognition remained high. Only in Argentina did the positive impressions outweigh the negative; 53 percent of respondents said they had a positive image of the Cuban president.
Similar results were found in a poll released in 1997 by the Wall Street Journal and 15 leading Latin American newspapers, which showed that only 27 percent of respondents in 14 Latin American countries had a ``positive or somewhat positive'' view of Castro.
The net result in both studies: The farther away from Cuba the countries were located, the more positive points Castro gained.
POPULAR SENTIMENT
Sidney Weintraub, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the poll's findings accurately portray popular sentiment for Castro in Latin America.
``He's a person of another time, of another era,'' Weintraub said.
So why aren't Latin American countries harder on Castro?
``They've got their own problems to deal with,'' Weintraub said. ``Cuba doesn't really matter to them. They view it as a U.S. problem.''
Weintraub said he does not expect Cuba to be an issue at the upcoming summit, which will likely focus on discussions about how to survive in a declining economy.
Though analysts agree that Castro is ``a man of the past,'' they say what is remarkable is the fact that Castro continues to be one of the most sought after leaders at international gatherings.
`CELEBRITY STATUS'
He also is frequently the one whose presence generates the loudest applause, said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy institute.
``He is not thought of highly as a political leader but he has achieved celebrity status,'' Hakim said. Part of the reason, he said, is Castro's long tenure and his unrelenting resistance to the ``greatest power on earth.''
While most Latin American leaders generally align themselves with the United States on most issues, ``the fact that the U.S. is so fixated and extreme in its position in regards to Cuba probably reduces their willingness to be put on a limb,'' Hakim said.
``Many [in Latin America] believe U.S. policy does not help make changes in Cuba that the United States would like to see. They view it as extreme and counterproductive.''
The Cuba Study Group is a year-old, anti-Castro organization made up of prominent business executives and philanthropists. Its leaders say the group seeks to promote democratic change in Cuba.
Does that mean speaking out against communism?
Others are making that connection too!
Fidel, Saddam and Hugo --An improbable but growing friendship of three military revolutionaries -- The improbable but growing friendship of three military revolutionaries - Fidel Castro of Cuba, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela - poses a challenge to U.S. interests and to President-elect George W. Bush. It is a friendship with considerable power: Venezuela and Iraq are among the top 10 oil exporters. Cuba is a beneficiary of their largesse and, in Venezuela's case, a mentor of revolution.
(November 22, 2001) -Demonstrators clash in Venezuelan riots--Venezuela's largest opposition party, the centrist Democratic Action, convened the march to protest the left-leaning Chavez's use of special legislative powers to decree far-reaching economic reforms without consultation.
"Our principal weapon is our right to demonstrate against this pitiful situation which is dragging Venezuela through the dirt, humiliated and discredited not only at home but abroad as well," said Democratic Action politician Henry Ramos.
The march quickly deteriorated into chaos as supporters of Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement or MVR tried to block its passage toward Congress. Stores closed as tear gas filled the streets, and the metropolitan police, controlled by opposition Mayor Alfredo Pena, fired on the government loyalists.
workers of the world unite!......uuuh, nevermind, we tried that, it didn't work....
workers of cuba! pretend to work! we'll pretend to pay you!
And the LIBERAL media and the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus will pretend
the U.S. policy toward Castro, not communism, has caused their poverty and suffering.
Castro, the Carribean, and Terrorism
and there's more:
Thank you for the LINKS!
Wasn't there some highly-touted love-fest with Castro & a pile of effete, sniveling sycophants in New York about a year ago?
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