Bolivian scores with anti-U.S., pro-coca stance

Cocoa

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Thu Dec-15-05 09:11 PM
Original message

Bolivian scores with anti-U.S., pro-coca stance

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-15-morales-bolivia_x.htm

Bolivian scores with anti-U.S., pro-coca stance

By Danna Harman, USA TODAY

LA PAZ, Bolivia — The leading candidate in Bolivia's presidential election Sunday is a former llama herder and coca farmer and a confirmed bachelor. He's unorthodox in other ways, too.

Evo Morales, 45, vows to end Bolivia's 20-year-old open-door economic policies and decriminalize the growing of coca, the leaf from which cocaine is made. And perhaps most alarming to Washington, he is addressing his country's social and economic disparities with a big dose of anti-American rhetoric.

"This election will change history," Morales, 46, said Tuesday at his last campaign rally in La Paz, the capital. An indigenous Indian, Morales addressed the crowd holding a gold-flecked staff and wearing a traditional red poncho draped over his signature blue, terrycloth zip-up sweatshirt. A wreath of potatoes, roses and coca leaves was draped around his neck. "If we don't win, neo-liberalism and colonialism will deepen," he said, referring to policies of previous administrations that have worked closely with the United States and other countries. "The time of dignity for the people has come."

Morales' populist, socialist and anti-American stance resembles the politics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Like oil-rich Venezuela, Morales' country sits on a vast supply of energy: the continent's second-largest reserves of natural gas.
The United States is concerned that if Morales wins, another Latin American nation will swing to the left — away from free trade and, in this case, the war on drugs.

more...

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imouttahere

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Thu Dec-15-05 09:14 PM
Response to Original message

1. Go Morales! Power to the people!

and phuck BushCo!

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VegasWolf

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Thu Dec-15-05 09:28 PM
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2. Humm! Laying the foundation to attract the partying baby-boomers? nt

:evilgrin:

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mike_c

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Thu Dec-15-05 09:36 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. most of us boomers are getting past the hard partying stage...

...I'm REALLY SORRY to note.

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VegasWolf

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Thu Dec-15-05 09:42 PM
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4. Tell me about it!!! It's a bitch isn't it!

:evilgrin:

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IndianaGreen

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Fri Dec-16-05 12:53 AM
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5. Viva Morales! Viva MAS! Down with Bush! Death to American Imperialism!

Four years ago Condi Rice threatened Bolivia with military action if it elected Evo Morales. I expect Rice to stay true to form and do the same thing again.

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High Plains

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Fri Dec-16-05 02:19 AM
Response to Reply #5

8. That tactic backfired on the US last time...

...it only increased Evo's popularity. This time, the State Department and the US Embassy are keeping pretty low-profile, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes.

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Darranar

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Fri Dec-16-05 12:58 AM
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6. "anti-American"

Oh, the glorious wonders of the US press.

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1932

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Fri Dec-16-05 01:58 AM
Response to Reply #6

7. Yes. And it's so unfair since the Americans have done nothing

to deserve such recriminations.

/sarcasm.

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Judi Lynn

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Fri Dec-16-05 05:01 AM
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9. Evo Morales is still so new to American wingnuts, they still haven't found

out how to launch their hate campaign on him. That's the way it goes for such slow learners. They'll have to wait until _Bush cranks up the ol' propaganda machine to full throttle, so he can tell them what they think.

Ahhhhh ha ha ha ha. They can't call him a dictator yet, as he hasn't been elected yet. I'm betting they'll throw the curiously antiquated "fellow traveller" label at him. It hasn't been used for a few decades. Why let it go to waste?

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ret5hd

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Fri Dec-16-05 10:18 AM
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10. for whatever it is worth... a mining CEO's view of morales...

http://www.mineweb.net/sections/whats_new/706645.htm

<snip>
Morales has generated high expectations with the poor and the indigenous by promising to legalize coca production and to nationalize the natural gas industry. However, Morales has assured the state-owned oil company Petrobas that the company's assets were safe.
</snip>

<snip>
Jeff Clevenger, President and CEO of Apex Silver said he remains confident that the company's San Cristobal silver mine will start up production in April 2007. During his meetings with Bolivian businessmen and politicians, Clevenger said he found Bolivians didn't possess a "good understanding" of the benefits of mining to the country in terms of providing tax revenues, jobs, infrastructure and other benefits.
</snip>

and regarding Hugo Chavez:
<snip>
Meanwhile, Phil Baker, President and CEO of Hecla Mining, said his company has more problems on a local level than it does with the government of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Despite an October newspaper article which claimed that Venezuela's tax agency Seniat would do an accounting review of Hecla's Venezuelan operations in response to complaints by labor unions, Baker said the company has yet to be audited.
</snip>

note: maybe it's kinda hard to focus on labor union complaints when you are trying to fend off coup and assasination attempts. just sayin...

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