Morales Takes Office In Bolivia

Evo Morales was sworn in Sunday as the 65th president of Bolivia, becoming the country’s first indigenous head of state. Dressed in his trademark informal attire, Morales was inaugurated in a ceremony witnessed by several world leaders, including Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and, historically, Ricardo Lagos of Chile – the first Chilean leader to visit Bolivia since diplomatic relations were broken off between Bolivia and Chile in 1978. Morales had participated in an indigenous leadership celebration on Saturday at the ancient remains at Tiahuanaco attended by thousands of Aymara and Quechua Indians. Morales has already made it clear that his government intends to rewrite the country’s constitution, wrest control of the country’s huge natural gas reserves from multinationals and has called for countries to cancel Bolivia’s external debt. In December the IMF wrote off Bolivia’s $200 million debt. Spain followed suit, canceling $120 million owed by the Andean nation.