La Paz, Bolivia
Bolivia’s first Indian president, Evo Morales, promised revolutionary change this week as he took the oath of office. “We are here to change history,” said Morales, a former llama shepherd. Morales, who has promised to be a “nightmare” for the U.S., joined a string of leftist leaders elected recently in the region. In his inaugural speech, Morales repeated his promise to renegotiate contracts with foreign companies to give the government a greater share of profits from Bolivia’s natural gas reserves, the second largest in Latin America. Morales appointed a Cabinet with an Indian majority and a Marxist energy minister, and made them all promise a government with “zero corruption.”
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