AFP, LA PAZ — The alternative "people's conference" on climate change called by socialist Bolivian President Evo Morales is expecting 7,500 delegates from more than 100 countries, officials said Monday.
Among those set to attend the gathering in Cochabamba April 20-22 include Presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, according to Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca.
Named the People's World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights, the gathering is intended to "give a voice to the people" on climate change after the perceived failure of the United Nations-sponsored Copenhagen summit on the same issue, organizers say.
In addition to government leaders, those attending will include delegates from social movements and nongovernmental organizations.
Organizers say they expect in attendance anti-globalization activists Naomi Klein of Canada and Jose Bove of France, and James Hansen, a US researcher who was among the first to warn about climate change. Also invited to the event was James Cameron, the Canadian-born director of the blockbuster film "Avatar."
Government delegations who attendance has been confirmed are from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Dominica, Antigua and Barbudas as well as St Vincent and the Grenadines, officials say.
The conference will seek to refine proposals by Morales in Copenhagen including the creation of a world tribunal for climate issue and a global referendum on environmental choices.
Chavez and Morales were among the harshest critics of the December 2009 Copenhagen conference, arguing that developing countries were largely ignored in the UN climate debate that set an objective for limiting global warming.
Bolivia's Environment Minister Juan Pablo Ramos said the Cochabamba conference may be "a major mobilization to fundamentally influence the next climate summit in Mexico in December."
Other delegates said the conference may be constructive.
"The notion of more input from civil society is welcome," said Luis Alfonso de Alba, who will be Mexico's delegate to the Bolivia conference. "I believe that the meeting can produce positive results."
Brice Lalonde, the French delegate to the climate conference, added that "we have to talk with everyone."
Showing posts with label Chavez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chavez. Show all posts
Uribe tried to sabotage Mexico summit: Bolivia
Kirsten Begg, 24 February 2010
Bolivian President Evo Morales ripped into his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe Tuesday, calling the Andean leader "an agent of the empire", who only attended the Rio Group Summit in Mexico in order to sabotage it.
Morales accused Uribe of only attending the two day summit in Cancun "for the photos and the lunch".
The Bolivian leader's accusations follow a shouting match between Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a head of states' lunch on Monday.
Morales told press that Uribe "provoked" Chavez with a "surprise intervention" during the Monday lunch and added that Chavez had "listened patiently" to the Colombian leader's complaints.
"This event [the summit] almost got stuck in the mud and I'm not scared to tell the truth. U.S. agents came to try to hold up and make fail this event," Morales said.
Chavez said Tuesday that Venezuela is ready to begin normalizing relations with Colombia.
Morales is one of several Latin American leaders, including Chavez, who strongly opposed the Colombia - U.S. military agreement signed in November, which allows the U.S. military to use some seven airbases throughout Colombia.
According to Morales the U.S. use of military bases on Colombian soil is actually an invasion of South America, where a rebellion exists in countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia against such presence.
Republished from Colombia Reports
Bolivian President Evo Morales ripped into his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe Tuesday, calling the Andean leader "an agent of the empire", who only attended the Rio Group Summit in Mexico in order to sabotage it.
Morales accused Uribe of only attending the two day summit in Cancun "for the photos and the lunch".
The Bolivian leader's accusations follow a shouting match between Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a head of states' lunch on Monday.
Morales told press that Uribe "provoked" Chavez with a "surprise intervention" during the Monday lunch and added that Chavez had "listened patiently" to the Colombian leader's complaints.
"This event [the summit] almost got stuck in the mud and I'm not scared to tell the truth. U.S. agents came to try to hold up and make fail this event," Morales said.
Chavez said Tuesday that Venezuela is ready to begin normalizing relations with Colombia.
Morales is one of several Latin American leaders, including Chavez, who strongly opposed the Colombia - U.S. military agreement signed in November, which allows the U.S. military to use some seven airbases throughout Colombia.
According to Morales the U.S. use of military bases on Colombian soil is actually an invasion of South America, where a rebellion exists in countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia against such presence.
Republished from Colombia Reports
Evo Morales says that in Latin America there exist those that are socialists “in name only” or “pro-capitalist”
EFE - Bolivian president Evo Morales affirmed today that in Latin America there exist “anti-imperialist” socialists but also those that are socialists “in name only” and “pro-capitalist” and believes that the “real ones” can be identified by looking at their positions on how to save the planet in the face of climate change.
Morales made these reflections in a press conference in La Paz, after being consulted by the press in regards to where he believes the victory of right winger Sebastián Piñera in Chile supposes a weakening of the “socialist” bloc in Latin America.
The head of state responded by saying he would not “classify” different presidents or governments in the region, but said that he is convinced that there exists a “rebellion of the peoples, of the social movements, against capitalism. That is unstoppable.”
According to Morales, when the issues of the environment and climate change are debates, the “peoples of the world”, the ecologists, scientists and leftists indentify “capitalism as the common enemy of humanity”.
“Therefore, the peoples of the world have a banner of struggle to defend life, the planet… to save humanity. That is where we can differentiate the real socialists from those in Latin America who are socialist in name only” said Morales.
The leftist Bolivian president belongs to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) bloc, led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who proposes the construction of a “21st century socialism.”
Translated from ADN
Morales made these reflections in a press conference in La Paz, after being consulted by the press in regards to where he believes the victory of right winger Sebastián Piñera in Chile supposes a weakening of the “socialist” bloc in Latin America.
The head of state responded by saying he would not “classify” different presidents or governments in the region, but said that he is convinced that there exists a “rebellion of the peoples, of the social movements, against capitalism. That is unstoppable.”
According to Morales, when the issues of the environment and climate change are debates, the “peoples of the world”, the ecologists, scientists and leftists indentify “capitalism as the common enemy of humanity”.
“Therefore, the peoples of the world have a banner of struggle to defend life, the planet… to save humanity. That is where we can differentiate the real socialists from those in Latin America who are socialist in name only” said Morales.
The leftist Bolivian president belongs to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) bloc, led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who proposes the construction of a “21st century socialism.”
Translated from ADN
Morales Says Rich Nations Must Pay
Frank Bajak
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The world's richest nations must be made to pay for the damage their profligate use of natural resources has caused in Bolivia and other developing countries, President Evo Morales said Friday.
"It's not possible that some in the industrialized world live very well economically while affecting, even destroying others," he told The Associated Press in an interview.
The first indigenous president of this country — whose rapidly melting glaciers scientists count among the most profound signs of global warming — said he and other Latin American leaders were exploring possible legal means for demanding compensation for the developed world's "ecological debt."
"If there is understanding, that would be great. But if not, there will have to be international legal responsibility," said the scrappy coca union leader, who turned 48 a week ago.
In a wide-ranging 70-minute interview in the living room of the presidential residence, Morales said his version of socialism requires state control of all basic services, including telecommunications.
He also reiterated his call for the United States, which he accuses of trying to undermine his government, to pull all of its soldiers out of this Andean nation.
Morales told the AP he was willing to help Colombia reach peace with its main rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which he said was no longer justified in spilling blood after more than four decades of conflict.
On Bolivia's divisive domestic front, Morales said he ordered troops to withdraw from the main airport in the country's eastern lowlands last month to avoid bloodshed during a standoff over landing revenues. He said he received intelligence that the crowd that took over the airport included armed separatists looking to provoke a fatal confrontation.
Morales, an Aymara Indian whose father was a community leader, also said proudly that this majority indigenous nation will next week become the first to ratify the Sept. 13 declaration by the United Nations endorsing the rights of the world's native peoples.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the only countries to vote against the declaration.
After winning the presidency in December 2005 with 54 percent of the vote, Morales has increased Bolivia's annual natural gas revenues from $300 million to $2 billion a year by exerting greater state control of the industry.
He has nationalized a tin smelter, most of Bolivia's largest tin mine and the country's railroads, and government officials have suggested they intend to move to nationalize electric utilities.
His government this year completed the re-nationalization of water companies, a demand sparked by widespread popular protests. It is currently negotiating the re-nationalization of the country's main telecommunications company, Entel, which is owned by Telecom Italia SpA.
"It's communication. You want to communicate, right?" Morales said. "It's a basic service. It's a human right."
"Just because you talk on the phone doesn't mean a few people are getting rich," said Morales, seated on a couch wearing fur-lined slippers he said were given to him by fans in a former Soviet republic whose name escaped him.
Morales has allied himself closely with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president, and Fidel Castro, Cuba's aging leader.
Asked if his vision of socialism follows the Chavez mold, Morales said the communal structure of Bolivia's indigenous societies and their "way of living in harmony with Mother Earth" set South America's poorest country on a different road.
"This is not the socialism of a leftist. It's the socialism of humanity."
His politics have not endeared him to the United States, which was his nemesis in the late 1980s and 1990s when he led coca-leaf growers in protests against Washington-directed forced eradication campaigns.
Expanding on public remarks last month in which he expressed his desire that all U.S. military personnel leave Bolivia, Morales said he wants all armed foreign troops out.
He said the only Venezuelan soldiers in the country are unarmed pilots who fly him around in loaned helicopters.
"As far as I know, the only armed soldiers I've seen are those from the United States," he said.
The U.S. Embassy would not say how many troops or military contractors it has in the country, but they are believed to not exceed a few dozen.
Blinking from a nap and blowing his nose when the afternoon interview began, Morales was asked how much sleep he gets nightly given his penchant for brutally long work days.
"Less than four hours," he said, though he said he always catnaps during helicopter flights.
"I'd like to get more rest, but you just can't."
Reprinted from AP
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The world's richest nations must be made to pay for the damage their profligate use of natural resources has caused in Bolivia and other developing countries, President Evo Morales said Friday.
"It's not possible that some in the industrialized world live very well economically while affecting, even destroying others," he told The Associated Press in an interview.
The first indigenous president of this country — whose rapidly melting glaciers scientists count among the most profound signs of global warming — said he and other Latin American leaders were exploring possible legal means for demanding compensation for the developed world's "ecological debt."
"If there is understanding, that would be great. But if not, there will have to be international legal responsibility," said the scrappy coca union leader, who turned 48 a week ago.
In a wide-ranging 70-minute interview in the living room of the presidential residence, Morales said his version of socialism requires state control of all basic services, including telecommunications.
He also reiterated his call for the United States, which he accuses of trying to undermine his government, to pull all of its soldiers out of this Andean nation.
Morales told the AP he was willing to help Colombia reach peace with its main rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which he said was no longer justified in spilling blood after more than four decades of conflict.
On Bolivia's divisive domestic front, Morales said he ordered troops to withdraw from the main airport in the country's eastern lowlands last month to avoid bloodshed during a standoff over landing revenues. He said he received intelligence that the crowd that took over the airport included armed separatists looking to provoke a fatal confrontation.
Morales, an Aymara Indian whose father was a community leader, also said proudly that this majority indigenous nation will next week become the first to ratify the Sept. 13 declaration by the United Nations endorsing the rights of the world's native peoples.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were the only countries to vote against the declaration.
After winning the presidency in December 2005 with 54 percent of the vote, Morales has increased Bolivia's annual natural gas revenues from $300 million to $2 billion a year by exerting greater state control of the industry.
He has nationalized a tin smelter, most of Bolivia's largest tin mine and the country's railroads, and government officials have suggested they intend to move to nationalize electric utilities.
His government this year completed the re-nationalization of water companies, a demand sparked by widespread popular protests. It is currently negotiating the re-nationalization of the country's main telecommunications company, Entel, which is owned by Telecom Italia SpA.
"It's communication. You want to communicate, right?" Morales said. "It's a basic service. It's a human right."
"Just because you talk on the phone doesn't mean a few people are getting rich," said Morales, seated on a couch wearing fur-lined slippers he said were given to him by fans in a former Soviet republic whose name escaped him.
Morales has allied himself closely with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president, and Fidel Castro, Cuba's aging leader.
Asked if his vision of socialism follows the Chavez mold, Morales said the communal structure of Bolivia's indigenous societies and their "way of living in harmony with Mother Earth" set South America's poorest country on a different road.
"This is not the socialism of a leftist. It's the socialism of humanity."
His politics have not endeared him to the United States, which was his nemesis in the late 1980s and 1990s when he led coca-leaf growers in protests against Washington-directed forced eradication campaigns.
Expanding on public remarks last month in which he expressed his desire that all U.S. military personnel leave Bolivia, Morales said he wants all armed foreign troops out.
He said the only Venezuelan soldiers in the country are unarmed pilots who fly him around in loaned helicopters.
"As far as I know, the only armed soldiers I've seen are those from the United States," he said.
The U.S. Embassy would not say how many troops or military contractors it has in the country, but they are believed to not exceed a few dozen.
Blinking from a nap and blowing his nose when the afternoon interview began, Morales was asked how much sleep he gets nightly given his penchant for brutally long work days.
"Less than four hours," he said, though he said he always catnaps during helicopter flights.
"I'd like to get more rest, but you just can't."
Reprinted from AP
Our 21st Century Zimmerwald
October 16th 2007 Managua, Nicaragua -- Hugo Chávez's October 14 Alo Presidente TV program, telecast live from Santa Clara (Cuba) is a historic turning point in the gathering showdown between the imperialist North and the popular upsurge taking place across the lands and islands of Abya Yala (the "Western" Hemisphere), the south of the Rio ‘Bravo' and the infamous U.S. Border Wall.
As my 19 year-old granddaughter and I watched Hugo and Fidel, members of Che Guevara's family, and a range of other leaders of
The Alo Presidente event, coupled with Hugo Chávez's meeting with Fidel Castro the day before, stands - in my view -- as our 21st Century Zimmerwald, a Zimmerwald Plus.
In September 1915 two coach loads of outstanding socialist leaders from the antiwar left wing of Socialist (2nd) International affiliated parties, including two future leaders of the October Soviet Revolution - Lenin and Trotsky -- met at Zimmerwald (in neutral Switzerland) to unite those revolutionary socialists prepared to carry out serious and consequent opposition to the imperialist world war. They issued a manifesto calling on soldiers, workers and oppressed peoples and nationalities of
The solid core of the Zimmerwald group, despite its small size, went on to lead the Russian October revolution. Under the impact of Soviet power in the former Tsarist Empire, the capacity of the German and other ruling classes in
From
Chávez's October 13 meeting with Fidel Castro lasted for over four hours. On Alo Presidente the next day he played a ten-minute segment of that meeting. The clip appeared to be an unedited part of their longer chat (it is available on the internet).
I am struck by how comfortable and at ease our two leaders are, how much they enjoy each other's presence and being, and how much they want to learn from each other's experiences and thinking. This was especially evident in videos of previous encounters during Fidel's long convalescence, when emotions ran higher because of uncertainty about Fidel's recovery during that period.
The next day Fidel called into Chávez's show and remained on line for well over an hour. The back-and-forth with Chávez and his live audience ranged from serious political discussion, announcements about new economic agreements between
The outdoor audience consisted of a large representation of
The Cuban-Venezuelan commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Che's capture and murder on October 8-9, 1967 was held on the grounds of the Che Guevara museum and memorial. The
Guevara's entire family -- his wife Aleida March and his surviving children, attended the
Chávez's TV program is almost always dynamic and participatory. Throughout the five hours he often invited compas (brothers and/or sisters) in the audience to take the mike and offer their opinions on some matter, usually their appreciation of the significance of the Che anniversary and commemoration.
The latter part of the program took viewers to five or six locations in
The political significance of the encounter between Chávez and Fidel, and the
- Fidel appears stronger and recovering well. He clearly still plays a big role in key strategic discussions facing
- Many indigenous activists and leaders question existing borders and/or the authority of many states in the hemisphere. They will surely appreciate the open-ended nature of the ALBA leader's tentative proposals on this theme. A genuine confederation along the lines of an expanded ALBA would have to incorporate the essence of indigenous views on this problem, one with deep roots in the history of European political and cultural colonization.
- Chávez and Castro discussed what Hugo calls "the rise of two, three many
- Chávez repeatedly referred to the dangerous political situation in
- The ALBA leadership team acts upon its strategy of open discussion with supporters, with the grassroots of their countries and the rest of the globe. They are completely comfortable with that - unlike their imperialist enemies who prefer the basement White House, secret negotiation, hidden agendas, and a dumbed-down public for their "leadership formula."
The presence of virtually the entire Cuban leadership -- and the public and participatory nature of the tribune from which this united, clear defiance was proclaimed -- leave no doubt among friend and foe alike that this is an affirmation of strong will and intent to unite in a life-and-death struggle against imperialist war and intervention. The ALBA alliance is re-invigorating the struggle against imperialist domination, regime-change, and coup making. This is nothing less than subversive, wide-open peace advocacy based on the right to self-determination, on harmonious relations with Mother Nature, and on freedom from imperial oppression, exploitation, and plunder.
The just concluded For the Historic Victory of the Indigenous Peoples of the World Encounter, held in Chimoré, Cochabamba - Bolivia (October 12, 2007), also issued an urgent call for the defense of the MAS government and "brother Evo Morales - President of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala." -- See http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2007/10/formal-summons-to-world-states-by.html
"We commit ourselves to support the historic effort led by bother Evo Morales, President of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala [the lands and islands of the Western hemisphere], in the construction of a new plurinational state. In the face of any internal or external threat, we remain vigilant over what is happening in
The appeals from Hugo and Fidel in
That's why
First published at Venezuela Analysis
Note
[1] See Presidente Chávez
"No nos quedaremos de brazos cruzados."
"No hay consenso posible con oligarquía alguna."
http://www.aporrea.org/oposicion/n103049.html
Bolivia's Morales says elites resent Indian power
Eduardo Garcia
Riberalta, Bolivia, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales says wealthy elites are trying to block his leftist reforms because they do not like having an Indian leading the South American country.
Less than two years since becoming Bolivia's first indigenous leader, Morales is facing fierce opposition from rightist rivals and sometimes-violent street protests have flared in the poor nation in recent months.
Morales, who herded llamas in the
"What worries me most are the actions of the oligarchy, the dirty war. Discrimination continues," he said late on Saturday on a military plane from the Amazon town of
"In some cities, groups of people talk about wearing out the Indian, knocking the Indian out ... They cannot accept that an Indian is governing well," said Morales, dressed in jeans.
Recent polls indicate that Morales has a popularity rating of about 57 percent, but the protests have put a strain on his government and stalled his effort to reform the constitution to empower indigenous Bolivians.
He accuses the rightist opposition and civic leaders of orchestrating the protests in eastern regions in a bid to derail the assembly and weaken him. Some Morales critics in the east say he wants to impose an Indian government.
Chavez and Castro
Morales has formed close ties with fellow regional leftists Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro since he took office in January 2006 on pledges to turn South America's poorest country into a prosperous, more inclusive nation.
"I don't have recent news (on Castro's health) ... with such an operation and at his advanced age, it'll take him time to recover," Morales said of Castro, who has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006.
He said the last time he spoke with Castro was when he visited
Despite the deadlock at the constitutional assembly rewriting
He said he might consider running for president after his five-year term expires in 2011, but only if the people want that.
"In street rallies, I've heard some people saying 'Evo President for 100 years,' that's demagogic ... (but) if people want me to run for president again, I will," he said.
"If they want me to go tomorrow ... I'd find myself a woman and I'd go back to my coca land plot," said a weary-looking Morales, a 47-year-old bachelor, adding that he sometimes feels "lonely" and "tired" in power.
In the jungle town of
"You've shown us love and a lot of interest in this faraway town ... now we feel we're being taken into account," Maria Candida Navarro, from a residents' organization, told Morales after he opened a bridge and a school.
Morales said such projects were the best way for his government to challenge the opposition. "What you've seen today, what we're going to do tomorrow, and what we're going to do every week. Work, work, work ... Permanent contact with people," he said.
Morales has more money flowing into state coffers since he nationalized the vital natural gas industry last year and he said education and health spending was his priority.
"The grass roots movements are starting to realize I can't undo the wrongs of 20 years of free-market policies in one-and-a-half years," he said. "I need time, I've barely started."
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.
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.
Peasants set the fashion in Bolivia's ethnic revolution
Rory Carroll,
The bright tunics and unusual hats were belittled by the paler-skinned elites as the uniform of marginalised peasants in the highlands and shanty-dwellers in the cities.
But in a dramatic turnaround, the style has now become synonymous with authority. Evo Morales, the president of
'It was one of the most important moments. Those clothes were symbols. Right there was contained our history and patrimony,' said Juan Ramon Quintana, Minister to the Presidency, when he unveiled the plan to immortalise the clothes. Just a few years ago, the outfit, which Morales wore at an indigenous ceremony in the sanctuary of Tiawanacu, would have been seen only in remote villages or in displays for tourists.
That it should now be elevated to a totem of national pride reflects the ascendancy of Morales, a former coca-grower and radical left-winger, over the economic and political establishment that used to run the country.
Indigenous people are still economically marginalised and often the victims of racism, but in the past decade they have emerged as a formidable political force. To protest against crushing poverty and neglect, they have blocked motorways, clashed with police and even swung elections.
The costumes, once largely confined to peasants, have become prominent and even hip. Earlier this year the capital,
With talk of Morales amending the constitution to run again, there is growing realisation that his radical - and supporters would add, belated - push for indigenous rights may be here to stay. Many pale-skinned city dwellers are learning Quechua now that the language can help get jobs in government.
Rising indigenous influence across the Andean region is both a cause and a consequence of the 'pink tide' of left-wing governments.
In
Much of Latin America still celebrates 12 October as Christopher Columbus Day, but in Venezuela it has been renamed Indigenous Resistance Day. Protesters smashed a statue of
Evo & Chavez: Friends, not clones
Jun 7th 2007, The Economist
La Paz- When FIFA, the body that governs world football, decreed last month that international matches could not be played at altitudes above 2,500 metres (8,200 feet), Evo Morales must have been delighted. For once, Bolivia's president could apply his genius for political gesture to an issue that does not divide his countrymen. Mr Morales, a keen footballer, turned out for a few impromptu matches in La Paz's national stadium (altitude: 3,600 metres), cheered on by nearly all of Bolivia's 9m people. They see the FIFA ruling, which cites health worries, as an attack on their competitive advantage.
Many of Mr Morales's gestures in the 17 months since he took office as Bolivia's first-ever elected president of Andean Indian descent have been more divisive. His most popular policy, the nationalisation of oil and gas, has irritated foreign governments and investors. The “democratic revolution” he promises—a transfer of wealth and power from Bolivia's white and mestizo (mixed race) elite to the mainly Andean Indian poor—alarms the prosperous eastern provinces. He calls the media the “main adversary” of his government and wants to hold them accountable to the people. On June 5th the judiciary staged a one-day strike to counter a presidential assault on its independence.
In short, his opponents fear that Mr Morales is leading Bolivia down the path that his close friend, Hugo Chávez, has taken Venezuela: one of “21st-century socialism” and a presidential monopoly of power. “Chávez owns the Bolivian government,” says Jorge Quiroga, the leader of the opposition Podemos party.
Mr Chávez is clearly an ally and an inspiration for Mr Morales, but does that make him a model? His advisers insist not. “It's a mistake to think that Morales is a copy of Chávez,” says Pablo Solón, the government's foreign-trade envoy.
There are three reasons to think he may be right, none of which assume that Mr Morales would not enjoy wielding absolute power. First, while Mr Chávez is a former army officer who came to national prominence by leading a failed military coup, Mr Morales is the leader of a coca-growers' union and of a coalition of radical “social movements” whose protests brought down two previous governments. Mr Morales is now their unchallenged leader, but they will resist the idea that all change should come from the top down.
Second, Mr Morales confronts powerful regions headed by elected governors opposed to his plan to “refound” Bolivia. Finally, although natural gas has been a bonanza, its revenues are far more modest than Venezuela's oil billions. Bolivia cannot generate enough growth and jobs without private and foreign investment. In short, Venezuela is a one-man show but governing Bolivia demands alliances.
Mr Morales himself seems unsure of where he is heading. His ready acceptance of Venezuelan patronage and his raids on independent institutions feed suspicions. In April 2006 Mr Morales signed up to Mr Chávez's “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas”, a managed-trade agreement and anti-American alliance also involving Cuba. Venezuelan aid has poured in. It pays for scholarships, a campaign to distribute identity cards and the cheques that Mr Morales hands out to mayors for local development in the Altiplano, Bolivia's vast western plateau. More aid is promised for a network of community radio stations and the upgrading of the main state television station.
Mr Morales also has Mr Chávez's penchant for subverting rival centres of power, but perhaps less talent for it. Take the latest clash with the judiciary. This began when the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that four Supreme-Court justices temporarily appointed by the president should yield their seats. Mr Morales called for the tribunal's impeachment. The judiciary staged its first-ever strike to resist the government's attempt to “throw out the Bolivian judicial system and implant a totalitarian regime,” said a statement by the Supreme Court.
In January Mr Morales's supporters tried to unseat the governor of Cochabamba, the country's third most-populous province, for proposing a referendum on autonomy. Three people died in violent clashes. The incident pushed the governor closer to the four opposition-led eastern regions that had already backed autonomy in a 2005 referendum.
These skirmishes are part of an improvised revolution with uncertain aims. The vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, recently called for a “broadening of elites” and “room for both capitalist and post-capitalist development”. What opponents see as an assault on democracy, the government sees as purging vestiges of “anti-democratic” tendencies.
Greater clarity should soon come from a constituent assembly that is writing a new constitution (another device used by Mr Chávez to consolidate his power). Mr Morales's Movement to Socialism (MAS) proposes to redefine Bolivia as a “unitary, pluri-national, communitarian” state that gives pride of place to three dozen indigenous “nations”. These groups would control territory and natural resources and would be represented as communities in a single-chamber legislature alongside individual citizens. Private enterprise would be protected when it “contributes to economic and socio-cultural development”. A fourth “social power” would oversee the traditional three.
This smacks of corporatism, not democracy. The opposition objects to dividing Bolivia ethnically, and to the abolition of the Senate, where small provinces have political weight. The MAS has a majority in the assembly but not the two-thirds required to approve a new constitutional text. Samuel Doria Medina, the leader of a centrist opposition party, thinks compromise is possible. Indigenous “nations”, for example, could become wispier “nationalities”, he says.
In some moods the government seems open to compromise. “We don't want a constitution approved by 60 or 70% of the country but rejected by the rest,” said Mr García Linera. The final text, due by August 6th, will be subject to a referendum and then to interpretation by the courts, which Mr Morales does not yet control. What he may really be angling for is an end to the current rule that bars presidents from consecutive terms, so that he could run for re-election under the new constitution next year and again in 2013. In return, he would accept the opposition's demands for regional autonomy, says Carlos Toranzo, a political analyst.
Such deal-making would not be out of character. In January, Mr Morales dropped a campaign for the assembly to approve constitutional articles by simple majority after this provoked huge protests in the eastern regions. With the United States, he has arranged a wary, and perhaps temporary, truce. Some 40,000 jobs, mainly in the poor western highlands, depend directly on American trade concessions, now up for renewal. The United States, eager to avoid rupture, is overlooking Mr Morales's enthusiasm for coca, the raw material for cocaine. Recently, he joined the American ambassador to open a newly-illuminated road tunnel— something it is hard to imagine Mr Chávez doing.
But charging ahead when he can, and retreating when he must, is not a strategy for governance. The inexperienced, often inept, government has achieved little beyond boosting ethnic and national pride, and gas royalties. Bolivia is enjoying multiple windfalls, from high commodity prices to remittances and debt forgiveness. Even so, the economy grew less than the Latin American average last year, points out Gonzalo Chávez of the Catholic University in La Paz. More than half the population is poor, four-fifths of workers labour in the informal economy and emigration continues. Mining and gas apart, private investment is a negligible 2-3% of GDP. Yet in April Bolivia said it would withdraw from an international arbitration panel that investors use to resolve disputes. If he does not create good jobs, no amount of constitutional gimmickry will sustain Mr Morales's current popularity.
Latin America demands more for its oil and gas
Gas-rich countries like Bolivia are rolling out plans to nationalize energy reserves.
Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor, April 10
Santa Cruz, Bolivia- Forty miles in from the eastern city of Santa Cruz, down a rough dirt road lined by nothing save a few crude homes and the odd cow, stands a jungle of shiny silver and yellow tubes and tanks.
It's the property of the Spanish gas and oil company Repsol YPF, which earned $4.1 billion in net revenue in 2006 and is processing natural gas from nearby wells and pumping it via pipeline throughout Bolivia and Brazil.
It's this disparity between the wealth of the big foreign companies and the poverty of the local population that Bolivian President Evo Morales sought to reduce when he "nationalized" the country's natural gas industry by sending federal troops out to gas fields last May, insisting on more revenue from foreign operators. Bolivia has Latin America's second-largest gas reserves but is one of the region's poorest countries.
Mr. Morales joins other energy-rich Latin American nations in claiming more from – and depending less on – international investors and institutions, a movement led by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez.
In multiple elections last year, voters in the region overwhelmingly rejected the orthodox free-market policies of the past few decades by electing leftist leaders.
But as their new leaders respond, critics say that moves to nationalize gas and oil industries could chase away investment from multinational energy firms, which could prove devastating for the region's developing economies. Others say this is an experiment in developing a new model: one that mixes nationalism with a healthy dose of corporatism.
"Right now, Latin America is a continent with a political expression looking for an economic model," says Roger Tissot, director of country strategies at PFC Energy, a consulting group. Countries are not forcing foreign companies out as they did in the 1950s, but they aren't being bullied by the US either, he says. "The region is taking some of the lessons from the 'Washington consensus' [that championed privatization], but also some of things they think worked in the previous model. It is trial and error."
'Nationalizing' Bolivia's gas fields
Almost a year ago, on May 1, Morales carried out his campaign promise to nationalize the gas fields that provide Brazil half its daily consumption. But in many ways, nationalization is a misnomer. Unlike expropriations of the past, none of the foreign companies, such as Brazil's state-owned Petrobras or Spain's Repsol YPF, were kicked out.
Instead, Morales gave companies six months to accept new contracts that raise the state's take – and raised taxes on the two most productive fields by 32 percent for six months. It also gave the former state energy company, YPFB, a majority stake in the industry, with control over prices and commercial sales.
The move was wildly popular. In 2004, 92 percent of Bolivians supported a stronger state role in gas exploration and production in a referendum. Morales estimates that they will reap $1.5 billion in additional revenue in 2007.
While Morales, the first to be elected among the wave of leftists as front-runners across Latin America in the past two years, has taken the most sudden steps toward "nationalization," he is not alone.
Last spring, Ecuador's state oil company seized an oil field operated by the American Occidental Petroleum Corp., and passed a law that raises tariffs on private firms when oil prices increase. Analysts say it is unclear what Rafael Correa, Ecuador's new leftist leader who campaigned on pledges to reap more from foreign companies, will do in terms of contract negotiation. "He wants Ecuador to get its fair share, but there is uncertainty about how far he will go," says Jed Bailey, director of research for Latin America at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in Massachusetts.
Even in Peru, one of the US's closest free-trade allies in the region, President Alan Garcia is seeking to increase the government profit from minerals – a campaign pledge – but he is taking a gentler approach so as not to scare investors. So far, he has been able to extract a "voluntary" tax of 3 percent, says Mr. Tissot. But it remains to be seen how patient the population will remain with his softer stance.
Leading the pack is Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. In the past year, Chávez has gradually asserted more state control over oil production, targeting joint ventures first. He has declared May 1 as the deadline for state majority control in the extra-heavy oil products in the Orinoco River basin. Analysts expect the natural-gas industry to be among the next targets, says Mr. Bailey.
Following Chávez's lead?
In Bolivia, many say Chávez inspired Morales's nationalization plan.
"[Morales] echoes the threats that Chávez makes about nationalization. They have the same goals. I don't think Morales tries to hide that," says Napoleon Pacheco, an economist at the Millennium Foundation in La Paz.
Chávez's influence in the region cannot be underestimated – not just the discounted oil he ships around the region but his plans to reduce dependence on the US. He has promised Bolivia some $1 billion to invest in petroleum projects and recently announced he would help the country explore new natural-gas sources. He announced an initiative for natural-gas exporters in the region based on the principles of OPEC. The most ambitious plan is a $20-billion pipeline that would send Venezuelan natural gas all the way to Argentina. Morales may be ahead of him on that one, having inked a deal last month with Argentina to build a gas pipeline that will quadruple the amount of gas Bolivia exports to its southern neighbor.
Many analysts, however, say that resource nationalism has little to do with Venezuela. "It is true that Chávez is the main advocate for taking advantage of a favorable energy market and trying to squeeze foreign companies as much as possible," says Michael Shifter, who recently authored a report on the challenges the Chávez administration poses to US policymakers. "But the kind of 'nationalization' being carried out by the Morales government stems from Bolivia's own particular circumstances, and the mounting pressures of the country's poor, indigenous majority to get what they see as their rightful share of the national wealth. Even without Chávez on the scene, it is likely we would be witnessing such a move in Bolivia today."
That is the case in Ecuador, too, where protesters forced shutdowns of pipelines throughout the Amazonian basin.
"We should be the bosses of our own resources," says Adolfo Chávez, the leader of the Indigenous Confederation of Bolivia in Santa Cruz, where the country's natural resources lie. "It is because of the demands of the indigenous that things are changing."
In the past two decades, fiscal sense has been dictated by institutions like the International Monetary Fund, extolling free-market practices and a climate friendly to foreign investors. In raising taxes on foreign firms, Bolivia is bringing in another billion dollars, says Jim Shultz, a political analyst in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. "It's exactly the thing economic theories say you should never try to do. But the companies are all still here."
But critics worry about the long-term impact on foreign investment. Brazil and Bolivia have, thus far, found common ground in negotiating contracts, but if demands get harder on Brazil, analysts say, it may move more quickly to explore its own energy alternatives. "Nationalist policies are only sustainable when prime materials are high, and as long as there are materials to export," says Mr. Pacheco.
Carlos Arze, an energy specialist at the Center for Labor and Agricultural Development in La Paz, says that Bolivia has taken a path that is economically and politically pragmatic. But the risk of a backfire exists if the central government moves down a more radical path driven by popular demands. "People want to see results," Mr. Arze says. They want resource revenue to improve their quality of life. "As of yet, [the government] hasn't been able to advance on that."
Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor, April 10
Santa Cruz, Bolivia- Forty miles in from the eastern city of Santa Cruz, down a rough dirt road lined by nothing save a few crude homes and the odd cow, stands a jungle of shiny silver and yellow tubes and tanks.
It's the property of the Spanish gas and oil company Repsol YPF, which earned $4.1 billion in net revenue in 2006 and is processing natural gas from nearby wells and pumping it via pipeline throughout Bolivia and Brazil.
It's this disparity between the wealth of the big foreign companies and the poverty of the local population that Bolivian President Evo Morales sought to reduce when he "nationalized" the country's natural gas industry by sending federal troops out to gas fields last May, insisting on more revenue from foreign operators. Bolivia has Latin America's second-largest gas reserves but is one of the region's poorest countries.
Mr. Morales joins other energy-rich Latin American nations in claiming more from – and depending less on – international investors and institutions, a movement led by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez.
In multiple elections last year, voters in the region overwhelmingly rejected the orthodox free-market policies of the past few decades by electing leftist leaders.
But as their new leaders respond, critics say that moves to nationalize gas and oil industries could chase away investment from multinational energy firms, which could prove devastating for the region's developing economies. Others say this is an experiment in developing a new model: one that mixes nationalism with a healthy dose of corporatism.
"Right now, Latin America is a continent with a political expression looking for an economic model," says Roger Tissot, director of country strategies at PFC Energy, a consulting group. Countries are not forcing foreign companies out as they did in the 1950s, but they aren't being bullied by the US either, he says. "The region is taking some of the lessons from the 'Washington consensus' [that championed privatization], but also some of things they think worked in the previous model. It is trial and error."
'Nationalizing' Bolivia's gas fields
Almost a year ago, on May 1, Morales carried out his campaign promise to nationalize the gas fields that provide Brazil half its daily consumption. But in many ways, nationalization is a misnomer. Unlike expropriations of the past, none of the foreign companies, such as Brazil's state-owned Petrobras or Spain's Repsol YPF, were kicked out.
Instead, Morales gave companies six months to accept new contracts that raise the state's take – and raised taxes on the two most productive fields by 32 percent for six months. It also gave the former state energy company, YPFB, a majority stake in the industry, with control over prices and commercial sales.
The move was wildly popular. In 2004, 92 percent of Bolivians supported a stronger state role in gas exploration and production in a referendum. Morales estimates that they will reap $1.5 billion in additional revenue in 2007.
While Morales, the first to be elected among the wave of leftists as front-runners across Latin America in the past two years, has taken the most sudden steps toward "nationalization," he is not alone.
Last spring, Ecuador's state oil company seized an oil field operated by the American Occidental Petroleum Corp., and passed a law that raises tariffs on private firms when oil prices increase. Analysts say it is unclear what Rafael Correa, Ecuador's new leftist leader who campaigned on pledges to reap more from foreign companies, will do in terms of contract negotiation. "He wants Ecuador to get its fair share, but there is uncertainty about how far he will go," says Jed Bailey, director of research for Latin America at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in Massachusetts.
Even in Peru, one of the US's closest free-trade allies in the region, President Alan Garcia is seeking to increase the government profit from minerals – a campaign pledge – but he is taking a gentler approach so as not to scare investors. So far, he has been able to extract a "voluntary" tax of 3 percent, says Mr. Tissot. But it remains to be seen how patient the population will remain with his softer stance.
Leading the pack is Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. In the past year, Chávez has gradually asserted more state control over oil production, targeting joint ventures first. He has declared May 1 as the deadline for state majority control in the extra-heavy oil products in the Orinoco River basin. Analysts expect the natural-gas industry to be among the next targets, says Mr. Bailey.
Following Chávez's lead?
In Bolivia, many say Chávez inspired Morales's nationalization plan.
"[Morales] echoes the threats that Chávez makes about nationalization. They have the same goals. I don't think Morales tries to hide that," says Napoleon Pacheco, an economist at the Millennium Foundation in La Paz.
Chávez's influence in the region cannot be underestimated – not just the discounted oil he ships around the region but his plans to reduce dependence on the US. He has promised Bolivia some $1 billion to invest in petroleum projects and recently announced he would help the country explore new natural-gas sources. He announced an initiative for natural-gas exporters in the region based on the principles of OPEC. The most ambitious plan is a $20-billion pipeline that would send Venezuelan natural gas all the way to Argentina. Morales may be ahead of him on that one, having inked a deal last month with Argentina to build a gas pipeline that will quadruple the amount of gas Bolivia exports to its southern neighbor.
Many analysts, however, say that resource nationalism has little to do with Venezuela. "It is true that Chávez is the main advocate for taking advantage of a favorable energy market and trying to squeeze foreign companies as much as possible," says Michael Shifter, who recently authored a report on the challenges the Chávez administration poses to US policymakers. "But the kind of 'nationalization' being carried out by the Morales government stems from Bolivia's own particular circumstances, and the mounting pressures of the country's poor, indigenous majority to get what they see as their rightful share of the national wealth. Even without Chávez on the scene, it is likely we would be witnessing such a move in Bolivia today."
That is the case in Ecuador, too, where protesters forced shutdowns of pipelines throughout the Amazonian basin.
"We should be the bosses of our own resources," says Adolfo Chávez, the leader of the Indigenous Confederation of Bolivia in Santa Cruz, where the country's natural resources lie. "It is because of the demands of the indigenous that things are changing."
In the past two decades, fiscal sense has been dictated by institutions like the International Monetary Fund, extolling free-market practices and a climate friendly to foreign investors. In raising taxes on foreign firms, Bolivia is bringing in another billion dollars, says Jim Shultz, a political analyst in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. "It's exactly the thing economic theories say you should never try to do. But the companies are all still here."
But critics worry about the long-term impact on foreign investment. Brazil and Bolivia have, thus far, found common ground in negotiating contracts, but if demands get harder on Brazil, analysts say, it may move more quickly to explore its own energy alternatives. "Nationalist policies are only sustainable when prime materials are high, and as long as there are materials to export," says Mr. Pacheco.
Carlos Arze, an energy specialist at the Center for Labor and Agricultural Development in La Paz, says that Bolivia has taken a path that is economically and politically pragmatic. But the risk of a backfire exists if the central government moves down a more radical path driven by popular demands. "People want to see results," Mr. Arze says. They want resource revenue to improve their quality of life. "As of yet, [the government] hasn't been able to advance on that."
Morales: following Chavez or Bolivia's own path?
La Paz, Bolivia - Rewrite the constitution: check. Redistribute idle land: check. Rail against U.S. imperialism: check. Nationalize the phone company: check.
The populist agendas of President Evo Morales and his Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez are strikingly similar, a fact highlighted this week when Morales announced plans to nationalize Bolivia's largest telecommunications company only months after Chavez did the same with Venezuela's.
The parallels alarm critics who see Morales following Chavez into an ill-defined socialist future.
Yet most of the reforms championed by Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, spring from Bolivia's own turbulent history. And while its policies are similar, Bolivia — poor, largely indigenous, and landlocked — may see far different results than its oil-rich mestizo sister on the Caribbean.
Morales does not deny Chavez's influence. He flies around Bolivia in military helicopters on loan from the Venezuelan president and implemented last year's gas nationalization with the same U.S. lawyers Chavez uses for his own government takeovers — with Chavez footing the bill.
Like Chavez, he cites President Fidel Castro of Cuba as a hero. "Comrade Hugo Chavez, son of Comrade Fidel — they are the two commanders of the liberating forces of America," he said while welcoming Chavez to Bolivia last month.
But to suggest Chavez is the engine of change in Bolivia would be a mistake.
The revolution Morales leads was sparked by violent protests in 2000 against U.S.-based Bechtel Corp. for raising rates after taking over the public water utility in Cochabamba, unleashing a deep frustration with Bolivia's failed privatization experiments of the 1990s.
"The idea is homegrown," said Jim Shultz, director of the Democracy Center, a Cochabamba-based nonprofit monitoring Bolivian politics. "Whether or not it's being pushed farther or in more directions because Morales is following the model of Venezuela is known only to the backroom conversations between Evo and Hugo."
Morales' first 14 months in office read like a condensed version of Chavez's eight years in power.
Like the Venezuelan leader, Morales has convened an assembly to rewrite the constitution, pushed to expand his executive powers, triggered an ambitious land reform and consolidated state control over key natural resources and industries.
Ecuador could follow a similar path under new President Rafael Correa. After his December election, Correa announced an April 15 vote for a constituent assembly that will rewrite that country's constitution.
But in Bolivia, groups backed by the indigenous majority were demanding a new constitution well before Chavez's 1998 election. Their years-old graffiti is still visible on walls in La Paz.
Morales' land reform bill, passed in November to expropriate idle and fraudulently obtained tracts for the landless poor, seeks to revive a failed 1952 land reform.
And demands to nationalize Bolivia's natural gas were the battle cry in street protests that ousted two recent presidents.
By contrast, there has been no native groundswell of support for Morales' plan to re-nationalize former state telecom company Entel, which would reverse what is widely considered the only success story in Bolivia's 1990s privatization frenzy.
In a decade of rapid technological change, Entel's foreign owner Telecom Italia poured more than $600 million into the company, building Bolivia's largest cellular and Internet networks nearly from scratch.
Morales, however, lacks the fistfuls of petrodollars Chavez can throw at his own takeover of former state telecom company C.A. Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, or CANTV, announced in January.
Chavez also has political control that has eluded Morales.
Venezuela's National Assembly just gave him free rein to rule by decree for 18 months while Morales constantly locks horns with an opposition-controlled Senate and powerful state governors — foes who often portray him as a follower of Chavez.
"He is converting himself into an echo, into an actor copying the decisions of President Chavez," said Jose Antonio Aruquipa, spokesman for the opposition party Podemos.
"Chavez attacks the press; Morales does it too. Chavez moves against the right of private property, and here they announce similar measures."
The spread of "Chavismo" can be seen as reversal of the 1990s, when Latin American countries lined up behind a U.S.-backed privatization push that ultimately failed to benefit the region's poor majority.
But Bolivia's notoriously impatient electorate — the five years before Evo won office saw five different presidents — will have final say on Morales' homespun revolution.
And Bolivians of all political stripes tend to squirm when Morales calls Chavez "comandante."
"Cuba and Castro never could establish a presence here, even with Che (Guevara)," said political analyst Mario Espinoza, referring to the Cuban revolutionary killed in 1967 while trying to spark a communist uprising in Bolivia. "Venezuela is now in fashion, but it's only a fashion."
Convocation for Congress of Government and the Peoples, Cochabamba, Bolivia, 2-4 June, 2007
Considering that our continent is passing through a time of change towards a real integration based on sovereignty, dignity, harmony with nature and with the full participation of our peoples;
Committed to the process of social and structural transformation for the recuperation of our natural resources and the strengthening of our states in regards to the management of economic, social and cultural policies for the well being of the population;
Convinced that it is necessary to assume concrete measures between national, local and municipal governments, social movements, business owners, religious figures and all those who want to deepen and widen structural changes;
Recalling that it is 187 years since the assassination of Antonio José de Sucre on June 14, 1830, at the hands of the local oligarchies who wanted to silence the integrationist ideology of this liberator,
The following head of states agree to convoke the Congress of the Governments and the Peoples to be held 2-4 June, 2007, in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia.
The Congress of the Governments and the Peoples has as its objectives to:
* Promote dialogue and the generation of common proposals between governments and the peoples to strengthen integration based on solidarity and sovereignty, in order for all human beings and nature to live well.
* Carry out agreements on action, cooperation and complementariness at different levels and between different instances (governments, municipalities, universities, social movements, business owners, etc) around issues relating to the social, economic, cultural and political agenda
Those who can adhere to the present convocation and participate in this congress include:
- National, state, departmental, regional and municipal governments that share this vision of change
- Parliamentarians, councillors and alternative and progressive political movements
- Social movements, indigenous peoples, networks, institutions, religious congregations, business groups, intellectuals and all expressions of the population that are in favour of change and the transformation of our society
- Universities, institutes and entities involved in this process
- Women, men and youth who are part of these transformations
The agenda of the Congress of the Governments and the Peoples is open and all initiatives will concentrate on the following themes:
1) Integration with sovereignty
2) Social agenda for change (education, healthcare, social rights etc)
3) Structural projects and the generation of employment
4) Sustainable energy integration
5) Infrastructure for the integration of the peoples
6) Harmony with nature (environment, biodiversity, water)
7) Just trade based on solidarity
8) New mechanisms for financing
9) Sovereign agriculture
10) Cultural diversity for integration
11) Justice and culture of peace
12) Rights of indigenous peoples
13) Decriminalisation of coca leaf
There will be three moments during the congress: a first moment for reflections and analysis on the different themes, a second moment of elaboration and agreement on different proposals, projects and pacts, and a third moment of subscribing to different initiatives.
To guarantee concrete results coming out of the Congress of Governments and the Peoples, preparatory meetings will be organises at different levels to being discussing and elaborating proposals for agreements and decisions to be considered at this historic events for our continent.
March 11, 2007
Signed:
Evo Morales Ayma
Hugo Chavez
Joint Declaration signed by President Evo Morales (Bolivia) and President Hugo Chavez (Venezuela)
At the invitation of the president of the
During this opportunity, both head of states ratified their backing of the Bolivarian Alternatives of the People of Our America (ALBA) and the Peoples’ Trade Agreement (TCP), making a special emphasis on the principals of solidarity, mutual aid and cooperation between peoples, without any business profits or mercantile interests, contained in the “Agreement for the Application of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America and the Peoples Trade Agreement”, signed in La Habana on April 29. 2006.
As the result of a broad and fraternal dialogue, the presidents agreed to sign the following Joint Declaration, which establishes to:
1. Reinforce in the least time possible, the implementation of the “Agreement for the Application of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America and the Peoples Trade Agreement” signed in La Habana on
Wood: processing and production of primary material for the elaboration of construction supplies, taking into consideration a production chain with is broadly sustainable.
Telecommunications: creation of a bi-national space satellite.
Mining: promote the development of bi-national projects.
Energy: generation of energy, starting from making use of gas, in agreement with what was stipulated in the Energy Agreement of Caracas.
Cement: establishment of a cement processing plant.
Tourism: creation of a tri-national company with the participation of the Republics of Cuba,
Airline of the South: agreement between national airlines.
Trade: assume all the necessary measures to facilitate trade between both countries.
Governmental purchases: promote the opening up of Venezuelan state acquisitions to exportable Bolivian offers, in particular small producers.
2. Both governments committed themselves to combining efforts for the Convocation of the Congress of Governments and Peoples with the aim of promoting this new model of transformational integration. For this purpose, an organising committee will be constituted, which will be entrusted with guaranteeing resources and working on the basic documents for this event, which will have its headquarters in the
3. On the other hand, both presidents dialogued over the humanitarian aid received by
4. Finally, President Chavez thanked his Bolivian counterpart for the hospitality he and his delegation received during their visit.
In the city of
Signed the presidents of the
Morales and Chavez call for the first Summit of Presidents and Social Movement
La Paz, Mar 10 (ABI) – The march towards the unity of South American countries will add a new transcendental summit, when next June 4 head of states and popular representative install the First Summit of Presidents and Social Movements of the region. On Sunday, the presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela, Evo Morales Ayma and Hugo Chavez respectively, will officially convoke this summit which will be held in Cochabamba and which will prop up the path towards regional unity, assured today the presidential spokesperson Alex Contreras.
The announcement made by Contreras in the Palacio Quemado was corroborated by president Morales who, in the city of Trinidad, who signalled that this summit is “important for Latin American unity”.
“Tomorrow we are going to sign a convocation for an international event that will be held in June for presidents and the leaders of the peoples. It is a grand international event to liberate Latin America” indicated the head of state.
Morales pointed out that as long as the region is not able to break the models imposed by foreign interests “the struggles of [Tomás] Katari and [Simón] Bolivar continue”.
The conference call announced by Contreras and by the Bolivian head of state will open a new chapter in the process of the construction of the South American Community of Nations that last December held its second summit in the city of Cochabamba.
It was there, with the unanimous decision of the presidents and head of states present, that the capital of the valley was designated as the future heaquarters of the South American parliament, a measure that will be strengthen by this new convocation.
At the same time, the spokesperson of the palace said that this encounter “will mark a milestone in regional and global history. For the first time presidents will meet togethers with the social movements”, which did not occur during the Summit of Cochabamba, although the demands of the popular sectors and indigenous peoples were handed over to the presidents of the region.
The summit of presidents and social movements could outline an joint agenda to strengthen the South American Community of Nations, explained the spokesperson for the governmental palace.
The construction of the South American Community of Nations aims to develop an integrated space in the political, social, cultural, economic, financial, environmental and infrastructural spheres.
This South American integration is not only necessary to resolve the grand scourges that affect the region like poverty, exclusion and persistent social inequality, which have transformed themselves in the last few years in a central preoccupation of all national governments, but it is also a decisive step to achieve a multipolar, balanced, and just world, based on a culture of peace.
The South American countries are putting forward a new model of integration with their own identity, pluralists, based on diversity and differences, recognising the distinct political and ideological conceptions that correspond to a pluralist democracy.
Translated from ABI
Chavez, Visiting Bolivia, Says Socialism `Solution' for Region
Theresa Bradley
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will sign a series of economic and aid accords with his Bolivian counterpart tomorrow, as he crisscrosses Latin America to meet allies and counter President George W. Bush's visit to the region.
Chavez, who this afternoon visited flood-ravaged areas of Bolivia's northeastern Beni state, pledged to boost aid and energy cooperation, and follow through on an agreement made yesterday to incorporate Bolivia into Argentina's and Venezuela's new Bank of the South.
``This is the solution we need, not the crumbs of the empire,'' Chavez told crowds gathered to greet him in the Andean town of Trinidad, where floods have left thousands homeless. ``This is the integral road for our peoples' development: the road has to be the road of socialism, socialism of the 21st century.''
Chavez's tour, which began yesterday with meetings and a so- called anti-imperialist rally that drew an estimated 30,000 in Buenos Aires, coincides with the U.S. president's own five- country trip across Latin America, widely seen as an effort to contain Chavez's rising influence.
Still, Venezuelan aid to the region -- in cash, credit and subsidized oil -- dwarfs the $1.6 billion U.S. package that Bush this week emphasized.
Chavez, a close ally of Bolivian President Evo Morales, has sent $17 million in disaster relief aid, including 180 tons of tools, food and medicine, as well as helicopters, tractors and water purifying equipment, since weeks of heavy rain flooded the land-locked country, displacing tens of thousands of families last month.
Chavez today suggested that Venezuela and Cuba tap cash from a multimillion dollar fund belonging to his Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, known by its Spanish acronym ALBA, to replace Bolivian roads, schools, crops and livestock lost to rising floodwaters.
The ALBA is a regional aid and trade initiative Chavez designed to counter the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas.
``Never as Bolivians will we forget this great solidarity at such a difficult time,'' Morales, who was elected in 2005 with Chavez's tacit support, said today. ``During my campaign, they said, `If Evo is president, we're never going to get any help.' Now we see: to the contrary!''
Bank of the South
Chavez and Morales also plan to sign tomorrow an agreement joining Bolivia to the Bank of the South, a credit initiative formed by Venezuela and Argentina to promote regional integration and temper their nations' reliance on multilateral banks.
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner officially approved Bolivia's participation in the bank in one of 11 accords he and Chavez signed in Buenos Aires, Venezuelan state media said.
Once the accords are signed, Chavez plans to travel to Managua, where he will meet Nicaraguan President and ally Daniel Ortega tomorrow evening.
``A new people's battle to liberate us and pursue the goal of ending dependence and building unity has begun,'' Chavez said today. ``The revolution is multiplying, and that's what the empire is afraid of.''
Reprinted from Bloomberg
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