WORLD

VENEZUELA, URUGUAY GET HIGH SCORES ON DEMOCRACY FROM THEIR CITIZENS

VENEZUELA ANALYSIS - Venezuelans view their democracy more favorably
than the citizens of all other Latin American countries view their own
democracies, except Uruguay, according to a new survey released by the
Chilean NGO Latinbarometro. Also, Venezuela is in first place in several
measures of political participation, compared to all other Latin
American countries.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means a country that is not democratic
and 10 is a country that is completely democratic, Venezuelans, on
average, gave their own democracy a score of 7.0. The Latin American
average was 5.8, with Uruguay having the highest score, of 7.2, and
Paraguay the lowest, at 3.9.

Similarly, Venezuelans say more often than the citizens all other
countries except Uruguayans that they are satisfied with their
democracy. 57% of Venezuelans are happy with Venezuelan democracy, which
is the second highest percentage, with 66% of Uruguayans expressing
satisfaction. The average for all countries surveyed was 38%, with
citizens of Peru, Ecuador, and Paraguay, expressing the least
satisfaction, of 23%, 22%, and 12% respectively.

For Venezuela, the percentage of citizens surveyed who indicated
satisfaction increased more since 1998, the year Chavez was elected,
than any other country. The percentage expressing satisfaction increased
from 32% to 57% in those eight years.

In terms of political participation, Venezuelans indicate that they are
more politically active than the citizens of any other surveyed country.
Venezuelans have the highest percentage of citizens that say they
discuss politics regularly (47%, average is 26%), who say that they try
to convince others on political matters (32%, average is 16%), who
participate in demonstrations (26%, average is 12%), and who say they
are active in a political party (25%, average is 9%).

With regard to whether they believe that elections in their country are
'clean,' Venezuelans answer in the affirmative 56% of the time, which
puts them in third place, after Uruguay (83%) and Chile (69%). These
were the only three where over half said they believed elections were
clean. On average, only 41% of Latin Americans expressed confidence in
elections in their country. Paraguayans (20%) and Ecuadorians (21%)
expressed the least confidence in their elections.

The polls are financed by a variety of multilateral agencies, such as
the European Union, the Inter- American Development Bank, and the World
Bank.

www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2179

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2 LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS TO LOOK INTO UNION SIMILAR TO EUROPE'S

AL JAZEERA - South American leaders have agreed to create a high-level
commission to study the idea of forming a continent-wide community
similar to the European Union. Presidents and envoys of 12 nations
concluded a two-day summit of the South American Community of Nations on
Saturday, hosted by Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, in Cochabamba.
"We seek that South America be forever a region of peace that works to
solve the economic problems of its historically abandoned majority,"
Morales said. . .

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, said that the group
would rise above its historical divisions, though the process would not
be easy. . . The result left Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela,
pleased but impatient. Chavez has long called for the region to take a
greater role on the world stage. "We need a political Viagra," Chavez
said. "Look, we make decisions and we don't have the power to execute
them. They're stuck in these pyramids of paper."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DF53A65F-037A-42F0-942E-A52E4AF14BA7.htm

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