Posted on Tue, Jan. 24, 2006
LATIN AMERICA
Bolivian praises coca and Castro
Evo Morales' first day as president of Bolivia included meeting leaders of Cuba and Venezuela and the swearing-in of a leftist Cabinet.
BY JACK CHANG
Knight Ridder News Service
LA PAZ, Bolivia - Newly inaugurated Bolivian President Evo Morales began his historic, five-year term Monday by meeting with leaders from Cuba and Venezuela, two of Latin America's harshest critics of U.S. policy, before swearing in a Cabinet largely made up of political radicals.
His Cabinet choices included a former housekeeper turned union activist as justice minister and a hardline advocate of nationalization as energy minister.
At one point, he gave Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez a portrait of South American independence hero Simón Bolívar constructed from coca leaf, the main ingredient in cocaine. Despite U.S. objections, Morales has long defended its cultivation.
''Let's strengthen together and grow powerful together,'' Morales told Chávez. ``For these Bolivian people let's fight together.''
And in an interview with Univisión anchor Jorge Ramos, Morales said he ''admires and respects'' Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Asked if he considers Castro a dictator, he shot back: ``Fidel is a democratic man.''
The day was one meeting after another that seemed destined to increase U.S. anxiety over Morales, a peasant leader who has promised to be a ''nightmare'' for the United States.
Morales woke before dawn, then sat down at 7:30 a.m. with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, who attended the president's inauguration on Sunday.
FIGHTING ILLITERACY
The men discussed how Cuba, which has exported thousands of teachers around the world, can help Morales' government fight illiteracy, which runs about 20 percent in the impoverished Andean country.
Morales didn't specify whether he reached any agreements with Lage.
Around 10 a.m., Morales walked down to the cavernous atrium of the presidential palace and swore in his 16-minister Cabinet, using the same raised-fist salute he used in his inauguration.
Morales' Cabinet includes Bolivia's first indigenous foreign minister, David Choquehuanca Cespedes, who, like Morales, is an Aymara Indian.
MILITANT ACTIVIST
Also sworn in were Abel Mamani Marca, a militant activist who helped bring down two previous governments over privatized water contracts, who will become water minister, and Walker San Miguel Rodríguez, a prominent Bolivian attorney without previous military experience, who will be defense minister. A former mining union leader was selected as minister of mines.
Andrés Solíz Rada, a former socialist member of Congress who as a journalist often wrote disparagingly of the U.S. role in Bolivia, was named energy minister. He will be in charge of renegotiating Bolivia's contracts with foreign companies that are exploring Bolivia's vast natural gas supplies.
NOT WIDELY KNOWN
The head of the domestic workers' union, Casimira Rodriguez, a Quechua Indian, was named justice minister. Rodríguez, a former housekeeper herself, led street protests that culminated in the enactment of the Household Worker Law, which grants domestic workers protection from mistreatment and near slave conditions.
Few of the Cabinet members are widely known, even in Bolivia.
With thousands of admirers outside the presidential palace chanting his name, Venezuelan President Chávez arrived around noon and signed a series of bilateral agreements with Morales, including a deal to trade Bolivian soy for Venezuelan diesel fuel.
Both leaders, who hugged each other several times, said they were united in fighting ''neoliberalism,'' meaning U.S.-backed economic policies promoting free trade and tight fiscal policy.
Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, while Bolivia claims Latin America's second biggest natural gas reserves. Venezuela's state-owned oil company opened an office in La Paz on Monday.
FIRMS WORRIED
Although the 46-year-old Morales has worried energy companies by threatening to ''nationalize'' Bolivia's natural gas resources, some observers expect a more measured approach from the new government, said Chris Garman, the Latin American director for the Eurasia Group, a New York-based consulting firm.
''His rhetoric is going to vary according to the audience he speaks to,'' Garman said.
LATIN AMERICA
Bolivian praises coca and Castro
Evo Morales' first day as president of Bolivia included meeting leaders of Cuba and Venezuela and the swearing-in of a leftist Cabinet.
BY JACK CHANG
Knight Ridder News Service
LA PAZ, Bolivia - Newly inaugurated Bolivian President Evo Morales began his historic, five-year term Monday by meeting with leaders from Cuba and Venezuela, two of Latin America's harshest critics of U.S. policy, before swearing in a Cabinet largely made up of political radicals.
His Cabinet choices included a former housekeeper turned union activist as justice minister and a hardline advocate of nationalization as energy minister.
At one point, he gave Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez a portrait of South American independence hero Simón Bolívar constructed from coca leaf, the main ingredient in cocaine. Despite U.S. objections, Morales has long defended its cultivation.
''Let's strengthen together and grow powerful together,'' Morales told Chávez. ``For these Bolivian people let's fight together.''
And in an interview with Univisión anchor Jorge Ramos, Morales said he ''admires and respects'' Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Asked if he considers Castro a dictator, he shot back: ``Fidel is a democratic man.''
The day was one meeting after another that seemed destined to increase U.S. anxiety over Morales, a peasant leader who has promised to be a ''nightmare'' for the United States.
Morales woke before dawn, then sat down at 7:30 a.m. with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, who attended the president's inauguration on Sunday.
FIGHTING ILLITERACY
The men discussed how Cuba, which has exported thousands of teachers around the world, can help Morales' government fight illiteracy, which runs about 20 percent in the impoverished Andean country.
Morales didn't specify whether he reached any agreements with Lage.
Around 10 a.m., Morales walked down to the cavernous atrium of the presidential palace and swore in his 16-minister Cabinet, using the same raised-fist salute he used in his inauguration.
Morales' Cabinet includes Bolivia's first indigenous foreign minister, David Choquehuanca Cespedes, who, like Morales, is an Aymara Indian.
MILITANT ACTIVIST
Also sworn in were Abel Mamani Marca, a militant activist who helped bring down two previous governments over privatized water contracts, who will become water minister, and Walker San Miguel Rodríguez, a prominent Bolivian attorney without previous military experience, who will be defense minister. A former mining union leader was selected as minister of mines.
Andrés Solíz Rada, a former socialist member of Congress who as a journalist often wrote disparagingly of the U.S. role in Bolivia, was named energy minister. He will be in charge of renegotiating Bolivia's contracts with foreign companies that are exploring Bolivia's vast natural gas supplies.
NOT WIDELY KNOWN
The head of the domestic workers' union, Casimira Rodriguez, a Quechua Indian, was named justice minister. Rodríguez, a former housekeeper herself, led street protests that culminated in the enactment of the Household Worker Law, which grants domestic workers protection from mistreatment and near slave conditions.
Few of the Cabinet members are widely known, even in Bolivia.
With thousands of admirers outside the presidential palace chanting his name, Venezuelan President Chávez arrived around noon and signed a series of bilateral agreements with Morales, including a deal to trade Bolivian soy for Venezuelan diesel fuel.
Both leaders, who hugged each other several times, said they were united in fighting ''neoliberalism,'' meaning U.S.-backed economic policies promoting free trade and tight fiscal policy.
Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, while Bolivia claims Latin America's second biggest natural gas reserves. Venezuela's state-owned oil company opened an office in La Paz on Monday.
FIRMS WORRIED
Although the 46-year-old Morales has worried energy companies by threatening to ''nationalize'' Bolivia's natural gas resources, some observers expect a more measured approach from the new government, said Chris Garman, the Latin American director for the Eurasia Group, a New York-based consulting firm.
''His rhetoric is going to vary according to the audience he speaks to,'' Garman said.
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