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Cuba, Bolivia Make Literacy, Health
Plans
By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated
Press Writer, Dec 31, 2005.
HAVANA - Fidel Castro and Bolivian President-elect
Evo Morales say cooperation between their
countries will bloom despite U.S. worries
about more nations allying with communist
Cuba and a growing leftward tilt in Latin
American politics.
The two men late Friday announced a 30-month
plan to erase illiteracy in Bolivia, the
latest move by left-leaning South American
leaders calling for increased cooperation
among nations in the region without U.S.
influence.
Cuba also agreed to offer free eye operations
to up to 50,000 needy Bolivians as well
as 5,000 full scholarships for young Bolivians
to study medicine on the island.
"Could it be that the government of
the United States feels hurt that Cuba cooperates
with a brother nation?" Castro said.
"Does that offend the U.S. government
... is it antidemocratic, is it a crime?"
Morales, 46, said he would not allow himself
to be pressured by Washington while in power.
"I never had good relations with the
United States, but rather with the American
people," he said.
Morales, a coca farmer and left-wing activist,
says he won't resume the U.S.-backed coca
eradication campaign in Bolivia. But he
has vowed to crack down on drug trafficking
while promoting legal markets for coca leaf,
which is used to make cocaine but has medicinal
and other legal uses in Bolivia.
Castro and another close ally, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez, have over the past
year launched plans to share programs in
social cooperation among countries in the
region while rejecting a U.S.-backed plan
for hemispheric free trade. Washington has
expressed concern about their growing alliance.
Speaking to about 400 young Bolivians already
studying in Cuba under full scholarships
from Castro's government, the two leaders
did not spell out details of the literacy
plan.
But Cuba has launched similar programs
in other countries, most recently Venezuela,
sending Cuban advisers with educational
materials to work with local instructors
to teach reading and writing to disadvantaged
people.
Cuba carried out its own literacy program
in the first years after the 1959 revolution
that brought Castro to power, sending young
teachers into poor regions in the island's
mountains and other remote areas.
Among the poorest and least developed countries
in Latin America, Bolivia nonetheless has
a literacy rate of more than 87 percent.
"We have agreed to the first measures
of cooperation," Morales said, adding
that his meetings with Castro Friday were
"an encounter of two generations in
the struggle for dignity."
Castro is the first head of state visited
by Morales as he starts reaching out to
other leaders before taking office.
"Our brother Evo possesses all the
necessary qualities needed to lead his country,"
said Castro, who sported a miner's hard
hat given to him by Bolivian mining union
leaders who traveled with Morales to Cuba.
Although he won't be inaugurated until
Jan. 22, Morales was welcomed by a red carpet,
a military band and a smiling Castro when
he stepped off the Cuban plane that brought
him from Bolivia.
Castro, dressed in his typical olive green
uniform, welcomed Morales' election as an
important triumph over U.S. influence in
the region.
"The map is changing," said the
79-year-old Cuban leader, who marks 47 years
in power on New Year's Day.
Morales won the presidency Dec. 18 with
nearly 54 percent of the vote - the most
support for any Bolivian president since
democracy was restored there two decades
ago.
He left Cuba on Saturday to be back in
Bolivia in time for a New Year's Eve celebration
in his hometown of Orinoca. On Jan. 3, he
departs on a world tour that will include
Spain, France, Brussels, the Netherlands,
South Africa, China and Brazil.
In Cuba, Bolivian leader scolds US,
seeks 'dialogue' with Europe
HAVANA, 1 (AFP) - Bolivia's socialist president-elect
Evo Morales wrapped up a visit to Cuba,
slamming the US drug policy for his Andean
nation and Washington's military presence
in the region, while saying he wants a new
"dialogue" with Europe.
Morales, 46, also reiterated his desire
to nationalize Bolivia's large natural gas
industry.
He said his planned trip to Europe, due
to start in Spain, would seek to "spark
a fundamental dialogue directed at seeking
solutions to the grave social and economic
problems in my country."
Morales told reporters late Friday that
he would not be asking Spanish Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero how to repair
the "damage" of hundreds of years
of colonization but would rather be urging
joint efforts to alleviate social and economic
woes.
"It's important to understand the
economic situation of my country, and so
there will be a message of how together
the countries of Latin America, Europe and
other continents can seek democratic solutions
through dialogue to resolve the grave problem
of the majority of peoples in all countries,
not just Latin America," Morales said.
He took a harsher line toward Washington.
The United States "constantly accuses
me of everything: being a drug trafficker,
a coca leaf mafia man and a terrorist.
"There will not be zero coca, but
there will be zero cocaine," stressed
Morales, ending a 24-hour visit to Cuba
and meetings with communist President Fidel
Castro.
Coca is the raw material from which cocaine
is processed, but it has also been used
in traditional medicine in Bolivia.
Morales wants to end the US-sponsored coca
eradication program that he says has failed
to curb drug trafficking in Bolivia.
As a coca farmer and activist, Morales
developed ties with Castro and has pledged
to support leftist Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez's aim to defeat a US-proposed
free trade area.
"I have never had good relations with
the US government, but I have with the people
of the United States," he said.
The White House has taken a wait-and-see
approach toward Morales.
"The behavior of the new government
will determine the course of our relationship.
It's important that the new government govern
in a democratic way," spokesman Scott
McClellan said in Washington earlier this
month.
Asked about any potential for a US-backed
coup in La Paz, Morales said "if they
inject some money in there from above, from
outside, some military staff might try it,
but they will fail."
"Before they think about a coup, the
US government had better think about withdrawing
their troops from Iraq and closing their
military bases in South America," he
said.
Morales, who has vowed to nationalize Bolivia's
natural gas industry, said "the Bolivian
people had chosen to exercise the right
of ownership over their natural resources".
"Investors have the right to recoup
their investments and a right of earnings,
but under equal principles, and the state,
the people, ... the owners of these natural
resources should also benefit," he
said.
"It's sad, but some businesses and
transnational groups have not respected
Bolivia's laws, they haven't paid taxes,
they're thieves. We will be radical with
such groups. If they do not respect Bolivia's
laws, they will have to leave Bolivia,"
Morales declared.
Alluding to numerous shifts to the left
in Latin America, Castro, 79, said: "It
appears the (political) map is changing,
and we need to be reflective, to watch closely
and stay informed."
Morales pledged to join Castro's "anti-imperialist
struggle" during his first foreign
trip as president-elect.
Despite US efforts to isolate Cuba, Castro
enjoys close ties with Chavez and, now,
Morales.
From January 3, Morales will travel to
Spain, France, Belgium, South Africa, China
and Brazil.
He has invited Castro to his January 22
inauguration, where he will become Bolivia's
first indigenous president.
Morales won the December 18 presidential
election with 54 percent of votes -- the
strongest mandate of any president since
democracy was restored in 1982.
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