LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2011

ARGENTINA/VENEZUELA
US ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright publicly criticised President George Bush and Hugo Chávez during an Expo Management 2007 conference on 2 November. She commented on Chávez 's way of "buying his friends due to instability in the region", and the manner in which countries reacted to his demands. Referring to the Iraq war, Albright also denounced the Republican Party and President Bush for leading her country in the "worst diplomatic failure, much superior to that of Vietnam". She went on to criticise Argentina's recent scandal regarding statistical information manipulation, saying "it is true that there is not much investment in Argentina, but there is will. First, Argentina must make its statistics honest because no one believes in the Instituto Nacional de Estadí­sticas y Censos". Nevertheless, Albright showed great optimism about Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's election, forecasting "genuine expectations" during her presidency.