| FACTBOX-Latin America's growing leftist club |
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| Reuters | |
| Thursday, 18 January 2007 | |
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Besides Correa, a former economy minister who has rattled investors with pledges to limit debt payments and renegotiate foreign oil contracts, following is a roster of the leaders considered to belong to the club: FIDEL CASTRO, CUBA * Now 80, Castro became president in 1959 after his guerrillas ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. A communist ally to the former Soviet Union and the world's third longest-serving head of state, Castro has weathered a U.S. trade embargo and its attempts to isolate Havana for decades. * He handed power provisionally to his younger brother Raul after having stomach surgery in July 2006, fueling speculation he might never return to govern. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA * A vocal critic of the United States, Chavez was re-elected by a landslide in December. Supporters praise him for pouring oil money into clinics and schools for Venezuela's poor majority but enemies see him striving for a Cuban-style, one-party state in which all must be loyal to the values of his socialist revolution. * Chavez, an ally of Cuba and Iran, plans to nationalize the energy sector and largest telecommunications firm but says foreign companies could hold minority stakes in energy deals. EVO MORALES, BOLIVIA * The first indigenous president of South America's poorest country, Morales swept to power in 2005 vowing to nationalize energy, redistribute land to peasants and set up an assembly to write a constitution reflecting the Indian majority. * Morales, a close ally of Chavez, has urged the creation of a South American community modeled on the European Union but must overcome long-running disagreements within the region. DANIEL ORTEGA, NICARAGUA * A former Marxist guerrilla, Ortega returned to power in November after spending 17 years in opposition. He has promised to fight deprivation and corruption in Latin America's poorest country after Haiti and plans unspecified constitutional changes he says would improve democracy. * Ortega's Sandinista movement in the 1980s confiscated businesses after toppling a U.S.-backed dictator. He says he has dropped Marxism for a center-left program. LUIZ INACIO LULA DE SILVA, BRAZIL * A former factory worker and union leader, Lula has just started his second term as Brazil's most popular president. During his first four years, he pushed up wages and spending on social welfare but economic growth has lagged. Lula has pledged to improve crumbling infrastructure and cut red tape. MICHELLE BACHELET, CHILE * A medical doctor and Chile's first female leader, Bachelet has won a reputation for frugality despite government coffers overflowing from a global price bonanza for copper. * She is a socialist from the center-left coalition that has ruled since democracy returned in 1990. Bachelet was jailed and tortured during military rule under Augusto Pinochet before fleeing the country in 1975 for Australia and East Germany. NESTOR KIRCHNER, ARGENTINA * Kirchner is widely expected to seek -- and win -- another four-year term in October's election as he rides an economic boom that alleviated high unemployment, poverty and homelessness during an economic crisis in 2001-2002. * A former provincial governor from the leftist wing of the Peronist party, Kirchner guided Argentina out of turmoil after street protests toppled a president. He also won popularity at home by forcing international holders of more than $100 billion in debt to take a huge cut in the value of the bonds. Share & Bookmark             |
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