Evo on Castro, Chavez and his Nobel peace prize candidature

Evo Morales interviewed by Heinz Dieterich

HD – Evo, the last time we spoke, we were united in our sadness over Fidel’s situation. Today we are happy, because he is once again returning to his role as leader. What does his return to politics mean for Latin America?

Evo – Well, he continues to be a great hope for Latin America and the world, because Fidel - the times he speaks with the people, with the world, and also the times that I have spoke with him - is always talking about life, about humanity, about education, about the necessities of the poor and about the future of humanity.

On one occasion I said that Fidel appears to be the best doctor, the first doctor of the world, because he worries about health. And there are his initiatives, for example, Mission Miracle in Bolivia. In barely one year and two months we have already operated on more than 70,000 eye patients for free. Poor people, people who do not have money, people who have never thought they would see again, and now they see! I have many memories, anecdotes about operations.

And, because of this I am very convinced that in any moment Fidel will return to the government of Cuba. For me he continues to be, together with Chavez, the two leaders of the libertarian forces of America. Fidel is a man, an unstoppable man in the struggle. He has a personality, which is very committed to humanity. He is from that class of personalities that continue to serve humanity across the world.

HD- What is there to learn from Fidel?

Evo – From Fidel, I learnt his manner of permanently concerning himself not only about the Cuban people, rather about the people of the world. Fidel, who is permanently concerned about how to resolve, by studying, calculating data, numbers, deepening his knowledge around a specific issue, the issue of health, of the issue of housing, of how to better the economic income of his country, studying what are the qualities of a country, because he wants the solutions for a country to come out of there.

Fidel never spoke to me about Marxism, about Leninism. Fidel never spoke to me about communism, he only spoke to me about life, about humanity, about planet earth. Because when you talk about the planet and when you talk about humanity, you are talking about health, about education, about water and about housing, amongst other things. He is a man who is concerned about humanity and a man, I would say, made by God, well, to serve humanity….

HD – And what have you learnt from Hugo Chavez?

Evo – And Chavez, well, I don’t want to say that he is like his pupil. But what coincidence, isn’t it, that this mother earth has given the peoples the opportunity for leaders to continue to emerge after Fidel. Well there is another hope, which is Hugo Chavez, in this permanent battle with the empire, and with the people who sometimes send troops to end lives, whilst at the same time there are countries that send troops to save lives. That is the profound differences between the United States and Cuba. As far as I know, Cuba has never sent troops to end lives.

It is important to follow the political lines, this directionality provided by Cuba, its government, its commander and its president. Hugo Chavez acts in this way, without fear to tell the mass media and the people what he thinks and the people surely will continue to join up to this policy. I consider the two leaders as great men, great leaders of the libertarian forces of America.

HD- Who proposed you for the Nobel Prize and why did you accept the proposal?

Evo – Well, it was the indigenous movement of America and some Nobel Peace Prize winners. I am very surprised by this great initiative, but Evo, with or without Nobel Prize, will continue to struggle for peace with social justice, not only in Bolivia but in the whole planet.

HD – Will the prize help you to play this role in Latin America and internationally?

Evo – It would be a great guarantee for me. It would be an international political support to continue defending life from my land.