[nasional_list] [ppiindia] I will lead by obeying the people
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 03:11:11 +0100
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**http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/enero/lun23/05EVO.html
Evo Morales takes office
I will lead by obeying the people
BY MARIA JULIA MAYORAL / PHOTOS: JORGE LUIS GONZALEZ,
-Granma daily special correspondent-
LA PAZ, January 22-"I will lead Bolivia by obeying the Bolivian people,"
reiterated Evo Morales Ayma, as he officially took office as president of this
Andean nation on a day of intense popular joy, during which many thousands of
people filled the streets of this city to express their hope that change will
come for those historically excluded.
Evo Morales receives the
presidential attributes in Congress.
Evo Morales walks the streets
of La Paz.
Lage responds to the affection
of Bolivians.
Even with a press credential and the help of those maintaining order on the
streets and plazas near the inauguration ceremony, it was almost impossible to
make it through the multitudes who from the early morning were celebrating this
victory here, as they were throughout the country.
At almost 2:00 p.m., Morales and his vice president-elect, Alvaro García
Linera, were sworn in before Congress and were invested with the five-year
mandate after acknowledging their electoral victory of an absolute majority of
53.74%.
Over loudspeakers in the streets, people closely followed their leader's words
in Congress during his first message to the nation after taking his oath.
Together with him, people sang the national anthem and observed a minute of
silence in honor of their ancestors, the fighters of previous eras, Che Guevara
- who lives on in the heart of this Andean territory - and the social,
indigenous and trade union leaders who died as victims of repression by recent
neoliberal governments.
Morales said that the people have taken power through their resistance and
consciousness, enriched through more than 500 years of struggle, on order to do
away with injustice, inequality, discrimination and oppression, and to live
with respect for multicultural diversity and in unity and peace.
"We want to change Bolivia," he affirmed. "After 180 years as a republic, we
have a country that has known only the plunder of its natural resources, a
dependent state that has been de-capitalized in spite its enormous natural
wealth."
Politics, he emphasized, is for serving the people and not for living off it,
and that means attending to economic and social problems. It is impossible to
continue having basic services such as water privatized, he said.
Morales also noted that his government's goals are to provide universal social
security for the elderly and to eliminate the concentration of land ownership,
unemployment, illiteracy and the majority of the population's lack of access to
health services. In Bolivia, he emphasized, the neoliberal model is not an
option.
He promised to govern with the wisdom of the people, and with its centuries-old
wealth of knowledge, without using foreign formulas.
Parliament, he said, has before it an enormous responsibility to implement the
people's clamorous demand: to convene a referendum on autonomy and a
Constitutional Assembly for the refoundation of Bolivia; this is the demand of
the indigenous people and grass-roots and labor movements, and if Congress is
not capable of carrying out that mandate, the Bolivian people will do it
themselves.
"We would not want a beggar state that goes asking for charity from the United
States, Europe or Asia," Evo affirmed. "In order to avoid that, we see
ourselves obliged to nationalize the country's national resources and implement
a new economic policy."
Morales asked Congress to carry out an in-depth investigation of the
misappropriation of state resources, and promised to combat corruption and to
reactivate mining. His government, he said, would not be a revengeful one.
POPULAR FIESTA
The day ended in a massive rally in Plaza de los Héroes, the site of important
social protests against neoliberal governments.
Morales and García Linera arrived there on foot after the end of the ceremony
at Quemado Palace. The streets were lined by people wearing traditional attire,
miners' helmets and the clothing used by those who cultivate the land; they
were there to accompany their leaders, shield them and encourage them.
It's hard to say exactly how many people congregated in this plaza, also known
as San Francisco, but estimates were 300,000. Morales was wearing the
presidential sash across his chest, as well as the medal of Simón Bolívar the
Liberator and the Great Necklace of the Condor of the Andes; all of these
symbols were received during his swearing-in, and he was visibly moved. At his
side were Vice President García Linera and Carlos Lage, vice president of
Cuba's Council of State, whom at Morales' request spoke to the crowd, as did
indigenous leader Blanca Chancoso.
Dignitaries present at the ceremony included Presidents Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela - who received the most applause - Ricardo Lagos of Chile; Néstor
Kirchner of Argentina; Alvaro Uribe of Colombia; Luis Inácio Lula da Silva of
Brazil; Martín Torrijos of Panama; Nicanor Duarte of Paraguay; and Alejandro
Toledo of Peru. Others included Janez Drnovsek of Slovenia and Prince Felipe of
Spain.
Outstanding Uruguayan intellectual Eduardo Galeano affirmed that it was a day
of fiesta, because yesterday was the last day of fear in Bolivia.
January 22 marked the rebirth of the Bolivian homeland. The people celebrated
ecstatically. They knew that a dark chapter was being closed, that of five
centuries of injustice and exclusion, and that was something to be celebrated,
but without losing their heads; the tasks that lie ahead will be difficult
ones. However, the Bolivian people, as García Linera noted, have never been
afraid of hard work and sacrifice.
Bolivia is awakening, Bolivia is victorious - that was how the vice president
summed it up in the Plaza de los Héroes, where emotions were high as Evo
Morales' made his final comments, sending a special greeting to Cuban President
Fidel Castro.
As the day drew to a close, the rally grew larger instead of smaller. There was
singing and dancing, with the blessings of Pachamama (Mother Earth) and Tata
Inti (Father Sun), and the expectations surrounding the new president of Aymara
roots, who shares with his people the dream of the new government's success.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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