[Marxism] Comments on Latinobarometro and Venezuela

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Venezuela
13) Vox Populi
Mark Turner, Latin America EconoMonitor, Dec 6, 2007
http://www.rgemonitor.com/latam-monitor/514/vox_populi

Every year, the reputable Chilean polling firm 'Latinobarómetro'  
publishes an extensive survey of opinion that covers the whole of the  
Latin America region. This year, over 20,000 people from 18 countries  
in the South and Central America region were surveyed by outsourced  
reputable local polling companies such as Gallup and MORI.

When this year's edition was published in mid November, your author  
expected the results to be picked up by the English speaking media.  
After all, to hear the voice of the people commenting about their lot  
is not something to be taken lightly. Strange then to have found an  
almost total English speaking blackout about the results of this  
important snapshot of LatAm views and opinions. Or maybe it wasn't so  
strange after all. Let us look at some of the poll questions and  
results for some of the countries involved.
…
Venezuela wins the race by a mile, with top three positions in seven  
of the ten categories. Happiest of all LatAm about its present and  
future economic situation, the way the money is being distributed  
inside the country, and about its justice system, these results fly  
in the face of what we are repeatedly told about Venezuela .

When we saw the days tick into weeks with virtually nothing written  
in English about this important survey, we wondered why that should  
be. But on revisiting the survey we began to suspect that the opinion  
Venezuelans had about their own country was so positive compared to  
other LatAm states that dwelling on the report and debating it might  
open a can of worms amongst those who would have us believe otherwise  
about the Venezuela of today.

As part of the research for this note, we searched the word  
"Latinobarometro" in the news category of Google, expecting the  
welter of stories that had passed us by. There were only 35  
responses. But amongst those responses, something strange was noted.  
Apart from some minor passing comments from very minor websites and a  
report by The Economist dated 18th November, only one fact was being  
used by mainstream reporters. Here are three examples:

"…A recent 18-country poll by the Chile-based Latinobarometro polling  
organization identified Chavez as one of the least-popular leaders in  
Latin America . Only Castro was less popular…"

"…The defeat could dissuade Chávez's leftist allies in Latin America,  
particularly in Ecuador and Bolivia , from attempting similar  
constitutional overhauls. A study this fall by Latinobarometro, a  
Chilean pollster, showed that Chávez's influence around the region  
has waned and he is now no more popular in the region than President  
Bush…"

"…A recent study by pollster Latinobarometro - as well as an outburst  
this month by Spain 's normally mild-mannered King Juan Carlos, who  
told Chávez to "shut up" - suggest his influence in the region could  
be waning…"

English-speaking reporters had obviously read the report, then. But  
somehow they managed to cherry-pick the fact that Chávez was  
unpopular. One should also note that although Chávez scored 61%  
approval in the report amongst Venezuelans, reporters unerringly went  
for the statistic that showed Chávez at 4.5 approval (maximum 10,  
minimum 0) in the opinion of all Latin Americans. Do these same  
journalists report on other countries' opinions of George W Bush? Or  
perhaps the latest US popularity figures from Iraq ?

There was one variation, however. The Miami Herald quoted the  
Venezuelan ambassador to the USA , Bernardo Alvarez, talking about  
the poll results. "…Alvarez cited a recent poll by Chile-based  
Latinobarómetro, in which Venezuelans ranked second in Latin America  
in terms of satisfaction with their democracy. 'The economy is still  
growing, for four consecutive years, at a rate of 11.9 percent, and  
the social programs have obtained important advances, like the  
decrease of the poverty rate from 55 percent in 2003 to 30 percent in  
2006,' Alvarez said. Nevertheless, few analysts share the  
government's optimism…"

Well that may well be true. A few analysts may not share the  
government's optimism about the future of Venezuela . It may also be  
true that a handful of analysts, economists, sociologists and  
politicians know an awful lot more about LatAm than the collective  
wisdom, knowledge and understanding of the 527 million people that  
this Latinóbarometro survey represents with a margin of error of plus  
or minus three percent. Then again, it may not. But all the same, the  
only way the English speaking media has found to use a comprehensive  
112 page report that covers 18 different countries is the same small  
statistic that backs up their previously stated ideas about one man  
in one country.

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