Hard to believe.

I was happily surprised to see our president named as Leader of the Year ["Bravo Business Awards," November 2005]. Yet it strikes me that nearly all of the qualities and the reasons for which he has been so distinguished, such as free markets [and] turning over public works to private concession, are exactly the things that 30 years ago he denied were possible.

Ricardo Lagos once wrote that all of the means of production should be in the hands of the state, nor has the Socialist Party ever accepted that private contractors could build public works projects for which they charged tolls. You also wrote that unemployment is down, the country has grown and incomes are better distributed. This is also a significant error, since he has been the president with the greatest unemployment, the worst distribution of goods and the slowest growth of the three democratically elected governments since 1990. It's strange to see him honored for exactly the opposite reasons.

Jose Salvador Matte Valdes

Santiago, Chile

Editor's note: Chile's national statistics institute, INE, reports relatively high unemployment as Lagos took office in March 2000 (a trend his government inherited) then declining, on average, during his time in office. Cost of labor per hour--a general measure of pay for ordinary workers--rose nearly every month, ending 26. 7% higher in that time frame. Finally, Chile's gross domestic product did slow during the Lagos years from an average of 5.6% in 1990 to his election in 2000, to 4.5% during his term. Comparatively, average growth among "advanced economies" from 2000 to 2005 was 2.4% while "emerging economies" as a group grew 5.8%, according to the International Monetary Fund.