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Morales Becomes Bolivia's President
Topic Started: Jan 23 2006, 02:20 AM (58 Views)
abuturab82
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Morales becomes Bolivia's president
Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:53 PM GMT169

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticl..._UK-BOLIVIA.xml

By Mary Milliken

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Leftist coca grower leader Evo Morales was sworn in on Sunday as the first indigenous president of Bolivia with high expectations of a better life for the poor majority in one of Latin America's most volatile countries.

The latest in a string of leftists to sweep to power in the region in a backlash against U.S.-backed free-market policies, Morales won 54 percent of the vote on December 18, the biggest landslide since the return to democracy in 1982.

An Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy, Morales cried as he donned the presidential sash and medal over his black wool jacket embroidered with traditional coloured stripes while an unprecedented 12 heads of state looked on.

"The 500 years of Indian resistance have not been in vain," Morales said in his inaugural speech. "From 500 years of resistance we pass to another 500 years in power."

Miners and Indians with weathered faces, many clad in the colourful clothing of the Andean highlands, swarmed the colonial government square chanting "Evo, Evo" and waving the indigenous rainbow-hued flag, the Wiphala.

Bolivia's rich and poor hope the historic hand-over will bring stability after street protests toppled the two previous presidents and dozens died in clashes with security forces.

But Morales' leftist and pro-coca rhetoric has unsettled Washington, a highly influential presence in Bolivia as the top aid donor and sponsor of a coca eradication program. In closing his election campaign, he said his Movement to Socialism party was "a nightmare for the United States."

His biggest supporters along the way have been Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, united by their opposition to U.S. presence in the region.

In his inaugural speech, Morales blamed the "neo-liberal" economic policies of the past and the "looting of our natural resources" for the poverty that affects around two-thirds of Bolivians.

"We have a lot of faith that he can help us because he is a poor man like us," said Teofira Marca Sajama, an Indian woman from Morales' home province of Oruro clad in a bowler hat, flouncy skirt and bright green shawl.

HIGH APPROVAL RATING

Morales, 46, was born in a hardscrabble highland village where four of his six siblings died as babies. A bachelor of modest means, he eschews the Western coat and tie in favour of a striped pullover and has cut his presidential salary in half to $1,700 (960 pounds) a month.

Despite an approval rating of over 70 percent before he took office, some Bolivians are nervous about his lack of governing experience and the huge challenges ahead.

"There is hope but there is also uncertainty, especially in a country so diverse where there are lots of differences," said family doctor Miguel Angel Suarez.

Morales' rise to power began with his leadership of the coca growers and his high-profile opposition to the U.S.-funded eradication of the coca crop, the raw material used to make cocaine. "Long live coca, death to the gringos," was his slogan.

Limited coca cultivation is legal in Bolivia to supply leaves for chewing or brewing tea, the traditional ways to ward off altitude sickness, fatigue and hunger. Cocaine is illegal.

More recently, he benefited from widespread discontent over Bolivia's management of its natural gas reserves, the second-largest in South America.

But Morales has tempered his speech in the last month in what many see as a sign of pragmatism and a desire to unite the indigenous majority and the European-descended elite and attract foreign investment.

He maintains his anti-eradication stance for coca but now vows to fight the narcotics trade and has pledged to turn the page with Washington.

Late on Saturday, Morales met with the top U.S. official for Latin America, Thomas Shannon. They said they will work together and plan to set up a series of meetings, but made no mention of the war on drugs.

The inauguration also provides Bolivia with an opportunity to mend relations with arch-rival and neighbour Chile. Outgoing Chilean President Ricardo Lagos met with Morales on Sunday to possibly pave the way for re-establishing diplomatic relations broken in 1978.

(Additional reporting by Helen Popper)
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