When bankers sense that a left-of-centre party could win an election in an emerging markets country, they often run a mile and urge investors to do the same. Witness the fear and the bond sell-off surrounding the election of left-leaning Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as president in Brazil last year.

Yet Credit Suisse First Boston has done everything it can to help out the most left-wing head of state in Latin America, save Fidel Castro. Hugo Chavez, the socialist president of Venezuela, was almost deposed last year. He still faces mass hostility from his own people and frosty relations with many Western governments, not least because he enjoys smoking cigars with Castro.