Cuba is not good model for Chile to follow, new president opines; Mexico or Brazil is

Cuba is not good model for Chile to follow, new president opines; Mexico
or Brazil is

The election Sunday of Sebastián Piñera as President of Chile was
reported Monday without commentary by Cuba's official newspaper Granma,
which reprinted a news item from the Caracas-based Telesur TV network.
It will be interesting to see the Castro government's stance toward the
conservative Piñera, who, after winning the first round in December,
said he had "an integrationist vocation with the European Union, the
United States, Southeast Asia and Latin America."
At that time, Piñera also said that "two great models have been shaped
in Latin America: one of them led by people like Hugo Chávez in
Venezuela, [Raúl and Fidel] Castro in Cuba, and [Daniel] Ortega in
Nicaragua. The other is the leadership represented by [Felipe] Calderón
in Mexico, Lula [da Silva] in Brazil, Alan García in Peru, and even
Michelle Bachelet in Chile.
"I definitely think that the second model is best for Chile. And that's
the model we're going to follow: democracy, rule of law, freedom of
expression, alternation in power without caudillismo," or strong-man rule.
In earlier appearances, Piñera had called Cuba "a dictatorship" and said
Venezuela is "not a democracy."
In terms of economics, Piñera said he favors a model "that fosters a
market economy, with private initiative and private property, with
aperture and integration."
Despite the differences in model, Piñera said, he would not transform
them "into a cause for division and conflict in Latin America."
[UPDATE: Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's National Assembly, on
Monday congratulated Piñera. "First of all, he must be congratulated,"
Alarcón told the Spanish news agency EFE. "It was a clear, neat victory.
At this moment, we must wish the best for the Chilean people. May they
be able, as [Piñera] himself has said, to continue the work of President
Bachelet, who rightfully ends her term of office with enormous popular
support."]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

January 18, 2010 in Current Affairs, The Americas
Cuban Colada (18 January 2010)
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2010/01/cuba-is-not-good-model-for-chile-to-follow-new-president-opines-mexico-or-brazil-is.html