News (Media Awareness Project) - Bolivia: Bolivia Congress Picks Ex-Leader Over Coca |
| Title: | Bolivia: Bolivia Congress Picks Ex-Leader Over Coca |
| Published On: | 2002-08-05 |
| Source: | New York Times (NY) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-22 21:20:01 |
BOLIVIA CONGRESS PICKS EX-LEADER OVER COCA ADVOCATE
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Aug. 4 - Bolivia's Congress ended a presidential tie
today, picking an American-educated millionaire, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada,
to lead the country as it confronts economic malaise and growing social unrest.
Mr. Sanchez de Lozada, a mining executive and a political centrist who was
president from 1993 to 1997, won by a congressional vote of 84-43 over Evo
Morales, a radical Indian leader of Bolivia's coca growers.
The men were the top two vote-getters in a national election in June, but
neither won an outright majority, forcing a vote in Congress.
Two congressman left their votes blank today, while 26 voted for Manfred
Reyes Villa.
The Legislature convened Saturday and debated for more than 24 hours. Each
of the 157 members gave a speech, with some wearing multicolored Indian
clothing and speaking in indigenous languages. Others chewed coca leaf, the
base material of cocaine but also a part of centuries-old Indian culture in
the Andes.
Mr. Sanchez de Lozada assured his victory in the vote more than a week ago
by securing an alliance with his rival, Jaime Paz Zamora, a leftist former
president.
Known by the nickname "Goni," Mr. Sanchez de Lozada spent most of his youth
in the United States and still speaks Spanish with an American accent that
is often the brunt of jokes among Bolivians. He grew up in Washington,
where his father was a diplomat, and later studied philosophy and English
literature at the University of Chicago.
Mr. Sanchez de Lozada will face an opposition galvanized by the
blunt-talking Mr. Morales, whose Movement to Socialism party has given
Bolivia's downtrodden Indian majority a strong political voice.
Mr. Morales fiercely opposes a program backed by the United States that has
wiped out most coca plantations, while Mr. Sanchez de Lozada has vowed to
continue the eradication effort. Washington heralds the program as a
shining success in its war on cocaine, but eradication has led to deadly
clashes between farmers and security forces.
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Aug. 4 - Bolivia's Congress ended a presidential tie
today, picking an American-educated millionaire, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada,
to lead the country as it confronts economic malaise and growing social unrest.
Mr. Sanchez de Lozada, a mining executive and a political centrist who was
president from 1993 to 1997, won by a congressional vote of 84-43 over Evo
Morales, a radical Indian leader of Bolivia's coca growers.
The men were the top two vote-getters in a national election in June, but
neither won an outright majority, forcing a vote in Congress.
Two congressman left their votes blank today, while 26 voted for Manfred
Reyes Villa.
The Legislature convened Saturday and debated for more than 24 hours. Each
of the 157 members gave a speech, with some wearing multicolored Indian
clothing and speaking in indigenous languages. Others chewed coca leaf, the
base material of cocaine but also a part of centuries-old Indian culture in
the Andes.
Mr. Sanchez de Lozada assured his victory in the vote more than a week ago
by securing an alliance with his rival, Jaime Paz Zamora, a leftist former
president.
Known by the nickname "Goni," Mr. Sanchez de Lozada spent most of his youth
in the United States and still speaks Spanish with an American accent that
is often the brunt of jokes among Bolivians. He grew up in Washington,
where his father was a diplomat, and later studied philosophy and English
literature at the University of Chicago.
Mr. Sanchez de Lozada will face an opposition galvanized by the
blunt-talking Mr. Morales, whose Movement to Socialism party has given
Bolivia's downtrodden Indian majority a strong political voice.
Mr. Morales fiercely opposes a program backed by the United States that has
wiped out most coca plantations, while Mr. Sanchez de Lozada has vowed to
continue the eradication effort. Washington heralds the program as a
shining success in its war on cocaine, but eradication has led to deadly
clashes between farmers and security forces.
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