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SUPPORT FOR MARKET ECONOMY DECLINING, REGION WANTS BETTER DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH, SAYS LATINOBAROMETRO.

Article Excerpt
Central Americans, like people throughout Latin America generally, are changing in their outlook and expectations, says this year's Latinobarometro poll. Taken in 18 countries across the region, the poll has tracked changes in public attitudes regularly since 1995. The Economist, exclusive publisher of the poll, says that, despite four years of solid economic growth and low inflation, populations are becoming disillusioned with the market economy. "But rather than socialism," says the conservative publication, "they want a fairer distribution of income and a state that gives greater social protection." Only Venezuelan respondents said their country has a "just" distribution of wealth. No other country even reached 33% on that score.

The region's citizens are also a bit less starry-eyed about democracy. Last year's poll showed a bump in support for democracy, attributed to the dozen presidential elections around the region. Now that support has fallen back. The report's tables and charts show only about half of respondents are committed democrats regionally, but in five countries the popularity of democracy has gained, and three of those are in Central America. "In Costa Rica and Panama, where popular social democratic leaders are in office, and in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, whose left-wing presidents, respectively Evo Morales, Rafael Correa, and Daniel Ortega, represent constituencies who have previously felt excluded from power."

By contrast, El Salvador and Honduras were among the countries with the biggest falls in support for democracy, and Guatemala now favors authoritarianism by a small majority. The Guatemalan outcome is somewhat contradictory in that the country just elected the social democrat Alvaro Colom over the much more authoritarian Otto Perez Molina in the Nov. 5 presidential runoff election (see NotiCen, 2007-11-08). Paraguay was the only other country in Latin America to...