Evo Morales - Priest of the Sun

[carodej]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4636044.stm

Evo Morales the new President of Bolivia, the country's first indigenous President performed an ancient Inca ritual dressed in the scarlet vestments of a priest of the sun as part of his inauguration.

"On Saturday, Mr Morales made a private offering to

Comments

[kitten_goddess]

Awesome!!!! Congrats to Bolivia and its Indian population!!!

[christeos_pir]

Note that he's the former head of the Coca Growers' Union. Stand by fro amusing hi-jinks from the Bushites.

[carodej]

The US administration criticize him for having close ties to Hugo Chavez & Fidel Castro, for supporting privatization (i.e. slapping the hands of US investors) and because he supports the trade of coca. As you point out it will be the coca leaves that the spin-doctors will most likely use to stir-up anti-Morales sentiments in the American public. IF he doesn't play ball with the US he will be painted as a terrorist drug-lord.

US Response will be interesting

[christeos_pir]

Beyond the coca leaves, which will be used against him by the bush administration like you say, there's also huge natural gas reserves located in Bolivia. If this will provide any cover the same way oil does for Chavez is yet to be seen. Bolivia needs a lot of foreign capital to develop and exploit this resource. The main reason Morales was elected was because we was least willing to let foreign companies come in and transport the unprocessed gas reserves out. Instead, he wants to develop processing and refining capacities within in the country.

In the long run, that's probably what is best for Bolivia. In the short term, he has to placate the people who voted him into power and at the same time bring in capital to develop the country. Bolivia has been stalled for the better part of a decade so it'll be interesting to see if he can make any serious changes.

Re: US Response will be interesting

[carodej]

Bolivia does have a lot of economic problems that leaves