---
title: "Chavez’s Unpopularity in Latin America"
description: "Large majorities in many of Venzuela's Latin American neighbors say they have little or no confidence in Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who suffered a substantial setback in last Sunday's elections in his own country. "
date: "2007-12-04"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2007/12/04/chavezs-unpopularity-in-latin-america/"
---

# Chavez’s Unpopularity in Latin America

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is widely recognized, and widely mistrusted, throughout Latin America — in Chile and Brazil, about three-quarters express doubts about Chavez (75% and 74%, respectively), and nearly as many in Peru (70%) say the same. In fact, majorities in both Brazil (56%) and Peru (53%) say they have “no confidence at all” in Chavez to do the right thing regarding world affairs, according to the latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey. Smaller majorities in Mexico (66%) and Bolivia (59%) say they have little or no confidence in Chavez, while in Argentina, views on Chavez are mixed: 40% say they have a lot or some confidence in the Venezuelan president, while 43% disagree. In the United States, a 55% majority expresses little (17%) or no confidence (38%) in Chavez’s leadership, while just 18% say they have some or a lot of confidence in him. This is comparable to opinion in other Western nations, though in many countries Chavez is not widely known. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/pubs/524/global-unease-with-major-world-powers-and-leaders)