BOLIVIAN PRAISES COCA AND CASTRO

Evo Morales' First Day As President Of Bolivia Included Meeting
Leaders Of Cuba And Venezuela And The Swearing-In Of A Leftist Cabinet.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Newly inaugurated Bolivian President Evo Morales
began his historic, five-year term Monday by meeting with leaders
from Cuba and Venezuela, two of Latin America's harshest critics of
U.S. policy, before swearing in a Cabinet largely made up of
political radicals.

His Cabinet choices included a former housekeeper turned union
activist as justice minister and a hardline advocate of
nationalization as energy minister.

At one point, he gave Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a portrait of
South American independence hero Simon Bolivar constructed from coca
leaf, the main ingredient in cocaine. Despite U.S. objections,
Morales has long defended its cultivation.

"Let's strengthen together and grow powerful together," Morales told
Chavez. "For these Bolivian people let's fight together."

And in an interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, Morales said
he "admires and respects" Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Asked if he
considers Castro a dictator, he shot back: "Fidel is a democratic man."

The day was one meeting after another that seemed destined to
increase U.S. anxiety over Morales, a peasant leader who has promised
to be a "nightmare" for the United States.

Morales woke before dawn, then sat down at 7:30 a.m. with Cuban Vice
President Carlos Lage, who attended the president's inauguration on Sunday.

FIGHTING ILLITERACY

The men discussed how Cuba, which has exported thousands of teachers
around the world, can help Morales' government fight illiteracy,
which runs about 20 percent in the impoverished Andean country.

Morales didn't specify whether he reached any agreements with Lage.

Around 10 a.m., Morales walked down to the cavernous atrium of the
presidential palace and swore in his 16-minister Cabinet, using the
same raised-fist salute he used in his inauguration.

Morales' Cabinet includes Bolivia's first indigenous foreign
minister, David Choquehuanca Cespedes, who, like Morales, is an Aymara Indian.

MILITANT ACTIVIST

Also sworn in were Abel Mamani Marca, a militant activist who helped
bring down two previous governments over privatized water contracts,
who will become water minister, and Walker San Miguel Rodriguez, a
prominent Bolivian attorney without previous military experience, who
will be defense minister. A former mining union leader was selected
as minister of mines.

Andres Soliz Rada, a former socialist member of Congress who as a
journalist often wrote disparagingly of the U.S. role in Bolivia, was
named energy minister. He will be in charge of renegotiating
Bolivia's contracts with foreign companies that are exploring
Bolivia's vast natural gas supplies.

NOT WIDELY KNOWN

The head of the domestic workers' union, Casimira Rodriguez, a
Quechua Indian, was named justice minister. Rodriguez, a former
housekeeper herself, led street protests that culminated in the
enactment of the Household Worker Law, which grants domestic workers
protection from mistreatment and near slave conditions.

Few of the Cabinet members are widely known, even in Bolivia.

With thousands of admirers outside the presidential palace chanting
his name, Venezuelan President Chavez arrived around noon and signed
a series of bilateral agreements with Morales, including a deal to
trade Bolivian soy for Venezuelan diesel fuel.

Both leaders, who hugged each other several times, said they were
united in fighting "neoliberalism," meaning U.S.-backed economic
policies promoting free trade and tight fiscal policy.

Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, while Bolivia
claims Latin America's second biggest natural gas reserves.
Venezuela's state-owned oil company opened an office in La Paz on Monday.

FIRMS WORRIED

Although the 46-year-old Morales has worried energy companies by
threatening to "nationalize" Bolivia's natural gas resources, some
observers expect a more measured approach from the new government,
said Chris Garman, the Latin American director for the Eurasia Group,
a New York-based consulting firm.

"His rhetoric is going to vary according to the audience he speaks
to," Garman said.