Bolivian president-elect to meet US delegation

Bolivian president-elect to meet US delegation

www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-16 09:57:44

LIMA, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Evo Morales, Bolivia's president-elect, will meet a United States delegation at his inauguration ceremony on Jan. 22, his spokesman said on Sunday.

"There is an official plan to hold a meeting between U.S. representatives and the president-elect," Alex Contreras told Bolivian radio in the country's administrative capital, La Paz.

Bolivian media quoted U.S. State Department sources as saying on Friday that Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for Latin American affairs, would travel to La Paz for the ceremony.

Contreras said Bolivia has to "talk to representatives of all governments, whether they are from our continent, from Europe, from Asia or from Africa."
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/16/content_4056914.htm

Bolivia's populist president takes up the challenge of government
By Evo Morales,Hal Weitzman
Published: January 16 2006 02:00 | Last updated: January 16 2006 02:00

Evo Morales's rhetoric as a presidential candidate for Bolivia was often contradictory, but the radical leader and former coca farmer struck one note of consistency on the recent world tour that followed his remarkable landslide election last month.


In high-profile meetings with the leaders of Spain, France, China and South Africa, Mr Morales wore the same lively red, white and blue striped sweater, projecting the same casualness that helped endear him to about 54 per cent of Bolivian voters.

On Sunday, the 46-year-old Aymara leader - no doubt displaying the same sartorial informality - will be inaugurated as Bolivia's first elected indigenous leader.

For many indigenous people, who comprise 65 per cent of the population of South America's poorest country, his election signals the end of 500 years of history in which they have been marginalised from national decision-making while foreign powers have plundered the country's natural resources.
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http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d812eebc-8634-11da-bee0-0000779e2340.html