January 28, 2000
A survey of opinion leaders representing Latin America's five most important economic players —Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela revealed an overwhelming desire for greater unity to compete more effectively on the world market.
The Reuters/Zogby Opinion Leader Forecast for Latin America, conducted between November and January by Zogby International, collected the views from the highest echelon leaders in government, business, labor unions, academia, religion and the media.
Some of the findings include:
Just over 84% named Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso as Latin Amer-ica's most effective leader in advancing Democracy.
More than 86% said greater political unity would bolster Latin America's stance in trade negotiations with stronger nations and important economic blocs worldwide.
Overall, close to 50% say the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has had little effect on their economics, while 25% said it has helped and 18% said it has hurt their nations. In Mexico, for example, an overwhelming 85% of those surveyed said NAFTA has helped, while in Brazil, more than four in 10 opinion leaders (41%) said NAFTA has hurt their nation.
Pollster John Zogby: "Elite public opinion in Latin America is in favor of establishing a power bloc," Zogby said. "They see a future for a Latin America market that competes on the world stage with the European market and the United States."
The survey also showed almost all leaders polled by Zogby (87.1%) rejected military intervention by the United States in the case of a political crisis, and most (78.2%) opposed an U.S. involvement in a military crisis their countries.
"These are people who know history, and the history has been that the United States has overplayed its hand as the Big Brother of the hemisphere," Zogby said.
(Published by Zogby International Polling/Market Research, New York).
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