Morales and Chavez Announce "Anti-Imperialist" Era

With strong political backing and promises of financial aid, Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales left the Venezuelan capitol to continue his tour to Europe, South Africa, China and Brazil, before he takes office on Jan. 22. The Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez will donate $30 million to Bolivia for social projects, in what was described as a first step towards the creation of an "axis of good"–a play on what Washington has dubbed the Latin American "axis of evil" supposedly made up of Havana, Caracas and now, La Paz. In Caracas, Chávez and Morales–who will be Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president–left the sensation that a new leftist political alliance opposed to the United States is emerging, markedly different in its foreign policy focus than that of the more moderate left-leaning governments in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. A statement issued at the end of the Jan. 3 meeting between the two presidents announced assistance for Bolivia from Venezuela's state-run oil company, support for education and health–areas that will also receive technical and material support from Cuba–and political support for all of the reforms to be undertaken by Morales, starting with the creation of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. The Venezuelan leader also said he would supply "all of the diesel fuel currently imported by Bolivia, around 150,000 barrels a month, that cost around $150 million a year," adding that "I will not accept a single cent of cash in payment, but only the equivalent in agricultural products, to support Bolivian farmers." During a Dec. 30 visit by Morales to Havana, Cuban President Fidel Castro offered 5,000 medical school scholarships for Bolivian students. In a similar vein, Chávez announced that he would provide "5,001 scholarships" to young Bolivians for vocational-technical studies and crafts courses in Caracas. The Venezuelan army, meanwhile, will send equipment and machinery to pave Bolivia's roads, 90 percent of which are unpaved, according to Chávez. Morales expressed his gratitude for Venezuela's cooperation and assistance, and underlined in a joint press conference the political and continent-wide nature of the new agreements. Morales remarked, "We are awakening to the dream of Tupaj Katarí," an Aymara leader who led a revolt against the Spanish colonialists in the 18th century, and to 19th-century independence fighter Simón Bolívar's vision of one united Latin American nation. "This is a question of peoples demanding their rights," said the Bolivian leader, an Aymara Indian. Chávez repeatedly quoted the final words attributed to Tupaj Katarí before his execution by the Spanish: "I die today, but I will return as millions." He also presented Morales with a replica of Bolívar's sword, while declaring that the Bolivian president-elect's victory at the polls "is the triumph of Katarí, Bolívar and Ernesto Che Guevara." He added that "if imperialism and its lackeys in this region attempt to overthrow Evo Morales, they will regret it, because the response of our peoples will be to undertake even more profound changes." Also in attendance was Ollanta Humala, the Peruvian presidential candidate who is currently vying for first place in the polls with Lourdes Flores of the center-right Popular Christian Party in the race for the Apr. 6 elections. The indigenous Humala, leader of the Peruvian Nationalist Party, is a retired army commander who headed up an attempted coup against then-president Alberto Fujimori in 2000, at the end of his ten years in office. "Other countries will follow us, like Peru," said Morales, who added that "we are convinced that the indigenous and aboriginal peoples and the political and social movements of the left will continue to triumph." "We recognize comrade Humala as a symbol of this rebellion," he remarked, and wished him success in his election campaign. Chávez also saluted Humala's presence, and described him as being "from the same stock" as General Juan Velasco Alvarado, the left-leaning president of Peru from 1968 to 1975. "We are united by the battle for nationalism and the recovery of our sovereignty," Chávez maintained. In a brief meeting with journalists, Humala reported that he had met with Venezuelan authorities, invited by the ruling Fifth Republic Movement, "to strengthen political ties and learn about experiences like those underway here." According to his main rival, Flores, Humala has received campaign financing from Venezuela, although both Humala and the Venezuelan government refute these claims. At the press conference in Venezuela, Morales also commented on his first meeting with the US ambassador to Bolivia on Dec. 26. "It's a beginning, a first contact. But there will be no conditions, no blackmail, no subjugation. This leftist axis is all about the dignity of Latin Americans and about people defending their rights," he stated.