Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jan 2006
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2006 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Jack Chang, Knight Ridder News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

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.

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 Chavez a portrait of 
South American independence hero Simon Bolivar 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 
Chavez. "For these Bolivian people let's fight together."

And in an interview with Univision 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 Rodriguez, a 
prominent Bolivian attorney without previous military experience, who 
will be defense minister. A former mining union leader was selected 
as minister of mines.

Andres Soliz 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. Rodriguez, 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 Chavez 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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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom