Chávez gaining support across region

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11614730.htm

The ideological and economic influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has spread throughout the Latin American nations.

BY STEVEN DUDLEY

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CARACAS - When former Ecuadorean President Abdalá Bucaram addressed a rally last month on his return home from eight years in exile, he vowed to follow a path that he believed would make him popular again: that of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

''I come to Ecuador to copy Chávez's style with a great Bolívarian revolution,'' Bucaram declared to the applause of about 20,000 followers in his home city of Guayaquil.

Bucaram's return was short-lived. Authorities quickly revived the corruption charges that had driven him into exile in Panama in 1997, and he fled the country again.

But his use of Chávez in an attempt to gain political cache illustrated the ripple effect around the region from the Venezuelan's brand of politics -- populist, leftist and, much to the dismay of Washington, strongly anti-United States.

From Argentina, where Chávez followers in a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood clamored for his presence during a recent visit, to Ecuador, where Bucaram called for a Chávez-like ''revolution of the poor,'' the Venezuelan leader's ideology is gaining sway in Latin America.

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[Bhaisahab]

1. guys like chavez and lula are the best defense

the third world has against the out of control rapacious capitalists led by bushco.

[AP]

2. I wish the media would put this alleged "anti-Americanism" in context.

First of all, Latin America does not need Chavez to remind them how much the US has down to impeded political and economic development. And despite US enthusiasm for a damn coup in Venezuela, Venezuela and other LatAm countries show remarkable restraint viz the US.

[aneerkoinos]

3. It didn't

It would be very schitzophrenic for people of América to be anti-American. The article used correctly the term anti-US. Which is the natural consequense of US contra mundo.