FOR BOLIVIAN MAJORITY, A NEW PROMISE

Nation's First Indian President Vows to Chart Course Independent of U.S.

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- The streets of this colonial city erupted in song
and fireworks Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Evo Morales,
Bolivia's first Indian president, who promised to begin reversing
centuries of social injustice, shield the country from U.S. influence
and reclaim natural resources that he says have been exploited by
international capitalism.

Morales, 46, broke into tears before addressing Bolivia's Congress
and the presidents of many neighboring South American countries, a
gathering that illustrated the region's ongoing political shift
toward socialism. The former coca grower likened his historic rise to
power in Bolivia, where people of Indian descent make up more than 60
percent of the population, to the end of apartheid in South Africa.

"This morning I was very happy to see my brothers and sisters singing
in the historical Plaza Murillo and Plaza San Francisco," Morales
said, referring to the celebrations attended by thousands of
indigenous citizens in the city's main squares. "Forty or 50 years
ago, we didn't even have the right to enter the Plaza San Francisco
or the Plaza Murillo."

Morales won the election riding a wave of discontent against the
elites who have traditionally ruled the country. Massive protests
have become a regular part of Bolivian life in recent years, helping
to oust two presidents since 2003. But the atmosphere of celebration
in the streets that lasted deep into the night was a reflection of
the widespread support Morales enjoys upon entering office. An
opinion poll released this weekend by the Bolivian firm Apoyo said
that support for Morales stands at 74 percent, an unprecedented level
in the country's recent history.

"All of the other governments we have had in this country have been
corrupt and have stolen from the people," said Felix Flores, an
unemployed 60-year-old Quechua Indian who traveled to La Paz from
Cochabamba to celebrate in Plaza San Francisco with thousands of
others. "With all of that money they robbed, they could have created
sources for jobs. Now Evo will."

A big part of Morales's message has centered on the idea of
self-determination, and he has frequently criticized the United
States as an "imperial power" whose interests often run counter to
those of Bolivia. The United States is Bolivia's leading provider of
development aid, contributing about $655 million from 2000 to 2004.
But Morales contends his country has been hurt by "neo-liberalism," a
term commonly used in the region to describe Washington-backed
economic policies that encourage free trade and a minimum of national
commercial intervention. On Sunday, Morales labeled the policy a
failure that had impoverished Bolivia while enriching wealthy foreign
interests, and he vowed to protect the country from its effects.

Bolivia, with 9 million citizens, remains the poorest country in
South America, but it has the second-largest reserves of natural gas
on the continent. Morales has pledged to nationalize the country's
fuel industry and woo investment from Latin America, Europe and Asia
to industrialize the sector.

Expectations for change run high among his supporters, and Morales
promised Sunday to convene a representative assembly to rewrite the
country's constitution to more equitably distribute political power.
He has tried to mollify concerns of international investors by
promising not to seize private property when nationalizing the fuel
sector. He has also said he wants to decriminalize the growing of
coca plants and refocus the fight against drugs on those who turn the
crop into cocaine.

"The fight against narco-trafficking, against drugs, against cocaine,
cannot be an excuse for the government of the United States to
dominate our communities," Morales told the crowd, a number of whom
chewed coca leaves, reflecting a long Bolivian tradition.

Many analysts suggest that Morales's frequent jabs at the United
States are rooted in his experience as a coca farmer and -- unlike
those of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro -- less in a
specific political ideology. But many of his supporters already are
linking Morales to those two leaders, whom Morales calls
inspirations. In Plaza San Francisco, vendors enjoyed brisk business
selling T-shirts with the names of a socialist icon and three
presidents printed in simple block letters on the front: "Che, Fidel,
Chavez, Evo."

"Evo professes a deep and close friendship with Chavez and Castro,
but he's more of a product of American policy than his relationship
with those two," said Eduardo Gamarra, a Bolivia analyst at Florida
International University. "He's a product of the coca wars, and he
should be understood in that context."

Bolivia is the latest in a line of South American countries to elect
presidential candidates from socialist or unionist backgrounds. Last
week, Chile elected the Socialist Party's Michelle Bachelet to
succeed Ricardo Lagos, another Socialist who embraced free trade as a
way to fund increased social spending in his country. And in their
most recent elections, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have also
elected presidents with backgrounds in social activism.

In Peru, elections this year will replace outgoing President
Alejandro Toledo, who became the first South American president of
indigenous descent when he was elected in 2000. A front-runner is
former colonel Ollanta Humala, a socialist.

Morales was born in a thatched-roof shack in Bolivia's western
highlands, and he worked as a shepherd as a young boy. As a teenager,
he was a brick worker, baker and trumpet player in a traveling band.
After settling in the tropical Chapare region to grow coca, he became
involved in politics as the head of the Federation of Coca Farmers,
which often pitted him against U.S. officials who wanted to reduce
cocaine traffic by reducing the harvests of coca leaves, which must
be chemically processed to produce cocaine.

His criticisms of the United States are widely admired among his
supporters, such as those who waved banners throughout the day in
Plaza San Francisco. To them, such comments prove Morales has the
courage to stand up for himself and his country.

"This is our day," said Pablo Mercado, 48, a city worker in La Paz
who waited for the new president to parade through the streets of the
city after his speech. "Finally we have something to celebrate."